Marionette Strings
by KarenRiceHossitt
Summary: All the universe is a stage, but who are the puppets and who holds the strings? Set six years after Survival with references to the Virgin New Adventure novels and Big Finish Audio Adventures. Rated for safety in most chapters (Chapter 3 will have a one higher rated section). As always all characters belong to their respective owners, this is for entertainment purposes only.
1. Chapter 1

Marionette Strings:

There was no way of knowing which moment it was that the Doctor fell for his companion. The affection he had for her had grown insidiously inside him for the past few years.

If he thought hard enough he would have to admit that he had felt the first inkling of it when he found her in the rough foliage on the Cheetah planet. Even hanging upside down his hearts had still managed to leap to his throat when she came charging at him torch in hand.

"What kept you?" her simple question had conveyed all of her affection and relief at seeing him there.

Or had it been even earlier when jealously had flared in his gaze, however briefly, when she had offered to distract the guard at Millington's Base.

No, it was even further back, when he had first given her the choice to come with him. The smile she had given him at that second could have supported its' own planetary system. It had caused his hearts to summersault when he had seen it.

He pondered these thoughts as he leaned over the TARDIS consol, standing in the dark. Since he was the only one awake at the moment, he decided to let the ambiance match his mood.

She had been his student for quite a while now. For eight years she had run by his side.

She always had his back, defending him (and countless other innocent beings). When had she become more than just a pupil to him? The Doctor did not know, but what he did know was that he was in trouble.

He had fallen for his companions in the past but they had all inevitably left him. Even his own 'granddaughter', Susan, had left him to travel on his own when she fell in love and got married to her handsome Mr. David Campbell.

Would Ace leave him as well? She, too, had shown a tendency to become attracted to certain people (Mike, Captain Sorin, Hex, oh very well men) that they met and traveled with on their journeys, and the Doctor was afraid that she would eventually decide that the domestic life was for her, leaving him once again alone.

There was nothing for it. He was going to have to tell her. "I love you, Dorothy McShane." He mumbled to himself, tasting the words as he said them. To his surprise, they lifted his spirits, taking the weight he carried on his hearts away with them as they left his lips. Perhaps this time there was hope.

* * *

Ace awoke in her room and groggily brushed her hand across the empty side of the bed. Realizing she was alone as usual, she came to full awareness, letting her recent dream slip from her mind. It had been a pleasant dream for a change, but it left her questioning herself.

Surely the Professor would never think about her that way. She had been his mentee for too long. The only physical contact they had shared over the years had been friendly at best and fatherly at worst.

The phantoms of sleep held onto her focus, however, and she couldn't let the images go. Ace took a deep breath and thought back to the moment she fallen head over heels for the Doctor about three years ago.

They had landed on a small tropical planet where the natives had treasured humanoid flesh as a delicacy. Ace had been caught in one of their booby traps (thanks to her overactive cheetah virus) and the Doctor had been forced to watch as the arachnoids had wrapped her in their silk cocoon and dragged her off to the home web. She had waited five days for him, never losing hope that he would save her. Her Professor did not disappoint her in the end, though he cut it pretty close... again.

It had been the dawn of her 5th day. After her captors had forced food down her throat, they had tested her flesh, pinching her through the silk. "We shall feast tonight" clicked her captor to his companion as they scurried off.

She understood and had recognized his excited, hungry tone. A few moments after they left, she had looked up through stinging, watery eyes to see the Professor hanging upside down from his umbrella.

Somehow he still managed to keep his hat perfectly balanced on his head as he looked down at her.

"Where have you been?" she asked with a teasing smile on her face. That smile that was half smirk with the left side of her mouth curving up while the other side pulled a Mona Lisa.

"And what have I told you about staying put?" he chuckled back quietly. He slid a knife neatly out of his sleeve and cut her free.

She had to hold on to him to keep from falling down the 100 meter drop to the jungle floor below. It was a struggle, but it helped that it was him she was holding. Her Professor, her Doctor had once again risked life and limb to save her. That was moment she realized that she could never love anyone else.

They had climbed up through the canopy of dense leaves until they reached a small clearing. In the middle of the cleared area stood the TARDIS. That wonderful blue machine that was her home, the only true home she had ever had.

"Primates nested here, flattening the leaves and shaping them into large nests." explained the Doctor as he led the way.

"Professor." said Ace in a voice scarcely above a whisper. It had been enough to catch his sharp hearing and he did a quick turn-on-the-spot to walk back to her. She had been unsure, should she have told him how she felt, what he meant to her? She had been so nervous that she had hidden her emotions not wanting to destroy the friendship they shared.

"What is it Ace?" he asked as he placed a concerned hand on her shoulder. She had looked into his eyes with obvious wonder before saying, "Thank you, for saving my life, again." She leaned towards him and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek.

The expression she received in return was one of utter confusion, so Ace had decided to leave it there.

She would love him from afar. She was content to leave her affections unrequited so long as he continued to allow her to travel with him.

It had been enough these last few years just to be beside him and watch his back. However, now with even her dreams turning against her, Ace wasn't sure how much longer she could stand to be ignored.

"It's not the professor's fault". She said to her empty room, "He couldn't know how I feel because I have never told him."

She sighed and pulled her knees up under her chin and sat there for a while contemplating how to let the Doctor know that she loved him more than anything in the twelve galaxies.

* * *

The Doctor was beginning to wonder where Ace was. She was normally an early riser, but today he found himself waiting impatiently for the usually cheery "good morning" to caress his ear.

Well, at least he had time to think about where he wanted to go. They had been cruising through the time vortex for the past week and he knew that Ace was becoming restless.

Perhaps a little diversion was in order. The Doctor quickly punched in the coordinates of the planet he thought would be perfect, and then let the TARDIS pilot herself as he headed to the kitchen.

It was there that he discovered his erstwhile companion putting a kettle on for tea. "Ah, good morning Ace." He greeted as he entered the room.

She jumped at his voice, nearly knocking the kettle off the stovetop. "Good morning, Professor. I was going to surprise you with a cuppa, but you've found me out." She smiled.

"Forget the tea", he said as he tapped her nose affectionately, "how about a picnic?"

* * *

An hour later they were comfortably situated on a gently sloping hillside overlooking a vast meadow. Ace's eyes had flashed gold when she saw their idealic surroundings. Her aggressive virus took her over with her first breath of fresh air. Two steps outside the TARDIS doors she had instantly broken into a run.

It felt good to stretch her legs and her cheetah reflexes let her feel as well as see everything. She had tired slowly, returning to the Doctor when her eyes had faded back to their normal hazel. She lay back on the soft grass and closed her eyes sighing contentedly.

"You have gained considerable control since you were infected." stated the Doctor.

"Hmm, I've been practicing. I can call it at will most days and send it away pretty quick if I want." Ace's eyes flew to join the Doctor's before she added. "Today was an accident. I didn't mean to skive off and leave you to set up."

"This", the Professor gestured to the cloth laden with their breakfast, "was nothing. It was a relief to see you blow off some excess energy, you seemed to be getting a bit restless." He leaned forward into a tri-pod with his chin on his umbrella handle.

"I don't know if I would say restless, frustrated more like." mumbled Ace under her breath. She decided to take a chance. It was now or never.

The Doctor looked at her, staring straight through her as if he knew her every thought. "Doctor." She said biting her lip. He knew that she was afraid to say what would come next from the fact that she had used his name. His chosen name.

"What is it Ace?" He tried to look nonchalant so that she would not feel pressured to continue.

"Doctor, I…I have to…to tell you something." He waited patiently, urging her on with a tilt of his head.

"Please don't think I'm stupid, or some silly child and you can't laugh." He nodded in response, listening intently. She scrunched her face tight and took a deep breath.

As quickly as she could she said it. "I love you Professor, I have loved you for years, and I know I was young, a kid, when we met but I…I need more…I need you…I know that's selfish..." she trailed off and opened one eye.

The Doctor was leaning closer to her, a serious expression gracing his features.

He took off his hat and laid his brolly down beside her. He looked at her for a fraction of a second taking in the sight of her to be forever stored in his memory.

She was magnificent. Her soft brown hair shone, her eyes now fully open, gazed into and through him, and her velvet lips, so inviting, quivered slightly waiting for his response.

"Oh Ace, no, you are not selfish", he moved his hand to brush her hair back from her face. "Or perhaps you are, but no more than I." He leaned over her slowly before giving her the barest of kisses. A jolt of electric energy crashed through them both.

The Doctor pulled back quickly in utter shock.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" asked Ace as she sat up next to him.

"Nothing is wrong I just was not expecting that." He said touching his still tingling lips with a puzzled expression. "That was not supposed to happen."

"Oh", she answered, feeling that old feeling of hopelessness creep up on her once again.

She rose to her feet. "It's alright Professor, I figured something would happen. I suppose it just isn't to be." Her shoulders visibly drooped in defeat.

"What? No, no, no it's not that. Ace, what just happened is extraordinary in cross-species contact. It only occurs within genetically compatible races." He reached up and guided her back into a sitting position opposite him.

"It is something to be cherished, an unusual occurrence, it surprised me, but it only shows me how dense I have been. You are truly magnificent, Dorothy."

She blushed at the use of her given name. "Professor, you know, I would feel better if you kept calling me Ace. Dorothy is a name for those who don't know me very well."

"Very well, Ace, my dear Ace, I must tell you, I do not know of any precedent exists for this. It is widely assumed that Time Lords are incompatible with humans. What we just felt is known as a bonding." He beamed at her. "It is rare, incredible rare and has only been documented in cases where two Gallifreyans had been paired for quite awhile. There are some slight side effects that you should be aware of, though."

"Side effects, as if I don't have enough of those to worry about."Ace said as she gestured to her rapidly yellowing eyes. "Should I be worried, Doctor?" she blinked back the virus and her eyes cleared.

"No, no, not at all, from what I have heard, or read rather, they can be quite beneficial. Though I have had no experience of them myself, the concept is intriguing. However, it will be interesting to test the waters." The Doctor said lowering his voice as he reached the last sentence.

A thrill swept through Ace, making her gasp. A feeling of absolute love warmed her from head to toe and seemed to wrap her in a protective blanket. The sensation dissipated enough for her to regain her thoughts, but not enough to disappear completely. It was as if someone was gently caressing her mind. "Is that one of the side effects?"

"Apparently, did you like it?" asked the Doctor seriously.

In answer, Ace leaned forward and kissed him again. This time the shock was stronger, as if they had both grabbed a live wire. They were lost in each other.

The Doctor opened his eyes a moment later to see that Ace's were the golden yellow of her aggressive virus. At this realization, he broke the kiss and moved away causing her to nearly fall forward. She growled in protest, her cat-like tendencies taking hold of her. Her prey had to inch away from her as she began a slow crawl in his direction.

"Ace, come back." She didn't stop, continuing her sensual pursuit. "Come home." She came to a halt and hung her head. When she looked at him again her eyes had returned to normal. She had nearly been about to attack him, this man who she loved and who loved her back with such complete acceptance.

"Oh Professor, I am so sorry. I must be losing it, that's the second time today that bloody cat has completely taken over."

He reached out to her and she launched herself into his arms. "I suspect it is just a reaction to your strong emotional changes. There is nothing to be sorry about. Mind you it has been a long time since I was sized up like a piece of steak; I found it quite thrilling actually."

He could feel her smile against his chest and knew this was only the beginning of something brilliant. As loath as he was to move her, there were many more interesting things to occupy their time. "Come along Ace, we have some experimenting to do." He took her by the hand, leaving their picnic forgotten on the hillside as they returned home.

That day and into that night, strange new exciting sounds could be heard through the TARDIS's corridors.

* * *

The shadows toyed with the wheel chaired young man. They drew a striped pattern that was the only way to show that he was making progress through the dark dead drainage pipe. He assumed that this meeting would prove eventful. The other sponsors he had contacted had all run screaming when he had demonstrated his particular talent and he hoped this one was made of sterner stuff.

The tunnel was overrun with cats, all kinds of cats. The kittens tried to attack the spokes of his wheels as he rode by them, the larger cats had more sense and stayed away. A fact he was quite glad of seeing as some of the felines were as big as ponies.

"Show me," came a deep voice from the inky blackness ahead of him. Four orbs, two smaller than the others illuminated, shining like torches in the dark. "At last. Took those two long enough… a bonding… quite unexpected, but perhaps an event in our favor."

"Hello?" asked the young man.

"Ah, young Mr. Yacoub, we have been waiting." The dark tunnel suddenly exploded into light as a multitude of technologies came to life. Standing in the middle of the tangled wires and blinking control panels that spilled from a crack in a giant marble column sat a man holding a black cat. He was obviously tall and had a weight about him that was the gift of a well muscled physique. His beard/mustache combo elegantly framed his square jaw. His dark hair was plastered back from his face and did nothing to hide his bright yellow-green eyes. "Well, what do you have to show me?" he purred.

Jason Yacoub rolled closer and put his chair breaks on. He pulled off his soft leather gloves and rubbed his hands together in a quick motion. He then pointed both of his index fingers and brought them in front of his face. He took a deep breath before pointing violently at the ground in front of him.

A figure sprung from the dust, vaguely human, its unfinished form quickly evolving into a perfect reflection of the man with the cat. Jason split his hands apart causing the figure to replicate; two mirror images stood absently petting their cats. He then brought his other fingers up bringing his hands into their fully splayed positions. Suddenly there were ten. Ten men faced their original matching his expression of mild interest.

"Very good, I believe we will be quite beneficial to each other, Mr. Yacoub." said the mysterious man with a sly smile. "And my dear Puppeteer, you may call me Master."


	2. Chapter 2

Try as he might, the Doctor could not stop smiling. Ace had done everything in her power over the past few weeks to wear him out, but all it did was make him grin like a hyena. As he fiddled with the TARDIS controls, he marveled at how lucky he was that she was his. Well, they had always belonged to each other hadn't they? The streetwise Ace and her mysterious Professor.

He reached out to her with his mind as was comforted when her mind unconsciously touched his in return. The bond between them was still in its infancy; while the Doctor could send Ace complete sentences of thought, she could only answer in sensations of feelings as of yet. He was confident she would soon be able to converse fluently. Even when she was asleep, as she was then, he could always get a response when he initiated mental contact. Of course he knew that it wouldn't be long before she awoke and came to find him, his touch acting as a silent alarm clock.

Sure enough, she emerged a few minutes later wearing her silk bathrobe, though the Doctor suspected there wasn't much on underneath.

"Good Morning, Professor." She said as she laced her arms through his, hugging him tight.

"Good morning, my dear. I am afraid we have rather a busy schedule today." He said as he tilted her face too meet his and kissed her softly.

"The TARDIS has picked up some sort of transmission; it seems to be urgent but the recording was badly damaged when it was transmitted through an ion storm. The old girl has been reconstructing it for a while, but I believe it is ready to be played now. Would you like to do the honors." He stated gesturing to the flashing button on the consol.

"Are you sure, love; you used to slap my hands away whenever I tried to touch the TARDIS controls." She smiled conspiratorially as she left him and slowly inched towards the button. Her sultry gaze sent flames through his hearts.

"Yes, but we were different then. Now you are part of me as I am a part of you, the isomorphic controls should answer to you now." He slowly followed her, the hyena apparent in his face. He made a quick grab for her, but she was a split second too fast and she moved to the other side of the consol.

"I thought you said we had a busy schedule." She laughed as she dodged another attempt of the Doctor's as he tried to grab her.

"Yes but that was before you decided to be so irresistible." His r's rolled off his tongue betraying his Scottish vernacular as he dodged in the opposite direction. Just as he managed to get her, she reached out and pressed the flashing button.

The two of them froze in place as they heard the message begin its static filled recital.

"…reat Sontar…..pire are under…. request… assistance of … shadow proclamation… under attack, repeat we … attack. Countless clones …been ….asted on our own lands… invasion!"

"The Sontarans?" asked Ace, "I thought they were usually the invaders, not the oppressed."

"Usually they are, but an invasion on their home world could have serious repercussions to the timeline. Civil war breeds better soldiers, better soldiers breed overconfidence, and overconfidence in the Sontarans…"

"Let me guess, breeds danger for the rest of the universe." Ace finished.

"Yes", he said slowly," imagine if Hitler's Third Reich had been invaded at its' most intimate level, then imagine if the Nazis overcame this invasion making them even more confident and powerful than they actually were."

"Gordon Bennett! They could have taken over all of Euro-Asia. Let alone Africa!" She exclaimed. "And what about the Americans! Would they have even gotten involved, or would they have been hiding across the pond during the whole conflict?"

"Oh, I wouldn't call the American GIs craven. They would have gotten involved but they very well may have been defeated opening their own country up for domination. In any case, there is truly no point in debating what ifs. All we know for sure is that the Sontarans are going to need our help."

* * *

General Serek surveyed the battlefield. The day had not gone as well as he would have liked. The fact that the enemy had the same aspect as his mentor, Hestek, had not helped alleviate the foreboding feeling he had experienced throughout the fight. Hastek had been his platoon leader when he had first emerged from the cloning facility. The man had been an excellent commander in his younger days and at the ripe age of thirty-eight, was the oldest living Sontaran on record, a testament to his battle prowess.

Hastek's doppelgangers had not shown the old commander's creative strategies in a fight, so they were relatively easy to eradicate. However their endless numbers had decimated his highly trained troops.

"Sergeant!" he called, grabbing the attention of his second in command.

"Yes, general." The younger Sontaran answered as he approached the general's vantage point.

"Have we received any response from the shadow proclamation?"

"No sir, however, we have received word that help is on its' way." Said the sergeant, cringing slightly as he knew the general's reaction would not be pleasant.

"Help! The great Sontaran Empire does not require help! We need the Shadow Proclamation to do its' bloody job!" shouted the older potato head.

"Of course sir, but the entity offering aid is classified as Imperial Enemy Subclass Alpha." the smaller commander added as a boon.

"So, the Doctor is coming to our aid. This shall be quite entertaining! Perhaps this will be the opportunity to rid our Empire of two adversaries at once."

* * *

The Puppeteer methodically pulled on his gloves, the figures standing before him melting to dust as he did so.

"Excellent, the game is set." said the Master from his usual seat in front of the view screen. "Soon all of the pawns will be in place. Tell me Puppeteer, how lifelike can you make your golems? I have seen that you can create mirror image replicas, but can you make it speak or move one independently from the others?"

Jason sighed. "There is a way to make one move independently and speak with the voice of its' original, however it will subtract from the number of soldiers that I can produce for you. One finger", he held up his pinky as an example, "must be devoted to the more advanced golem, so your production will decrease by 10 percent. There is however one other impediment to this line of thought."

"Oh, and what is that?" asked the Master as his eyebrows floated up in interest.

"For me to create a specific animate with speech capabilities and a personality, I would have to have a direct link to the living original. If I can physically touch them, the traits of the puppet will be close but still slightly distinguishable as different. I suppose I could make the replica completely indistinguishable from its progenitor if I had a direct mind connection, but that theory is yet untried." He was almost breathless. The long explanation had taken the wind right out of him. Damn this disease! It had taken away his mobility and was now slowly attacking his respiratory functions. He tried a few breathing techniques as the master contemplated what he had said.

"A psychic connection? Hum. Well I don't believe that will be too much trouble. However there is still the matter of capturing a little lab rat." He chuckled ominously causing his cohort to look at him with a strained expression.

Of course, it could be that the young man was just inconvenienced by his affliction. "Do not worry, Puppeteer, I know just the person for the job."

* * *

The grinding vorp of the engines came to a stop as a familiar blue police box materialized in the center of the Sontaran Grand Council. The delegates in attendance snapped their various weapons into readiness and aimed them at the double doors of the machine. At their opening, four hundred guns were simultaneously cocked.

A light colored hat peaked out of the TARDIS milliseconds before it was disintegrated by phaser fire. The energy packs of four hundred guns began their recharge cycles.

"Now that I have your attention," announced the small man now strolling out of the box with a now empty broom handle slung over his shoulder. "I believe you called for help."

"Help!" boomed a nearby delegate. "The great Sontaran Empire has no need of help! Sontar Ha! Sontar Ha!"

His chant was picked up by the other Sontarans, creating a deafening roar.

The Doctor nodded to an unseen person behind him and a small silver cylinder was launched from the TARDIS interior. It made an arc across the room landing in the only area not inhabited by delegates.

The explosion that followed was enough to silence the great room.

"I really do dislike resulting to violence, but as I recall, it is the quickest way to GET YOUR ATTENTION!"

The delegates lowered their weapons showing respect. The closest one to the Doctor moved to face him and began to speak.

"You have changed your appearance once again, Doctor. It is not often that our prime enemy shows up in the middle of a war council."

"And it isn't often, my brave Sontaran that your planet is on the verge of creating a drastic change to the timeline." He turned to address the entire caucus and raised his voice so that they could all hear. "I do not think that the Grand Council is foolish enough to refuse my aid. In fact I doubt that they are foolish enough to believe that this war you are currently fighting on your own soil is not the work of some off-world entity."

"Are you telling us that these armies we are fighting in glorious battle are being controlled by some coward, hiding in some cozy retreat? He shall pay for his cravenness! We are shamed daily by an enemy who will not face us himself." The Sontaran was miffed to say the least.

"Or herself." said a voice from inside the TARDIS.

"Impossible!" yelled a delegate from the left of the room.

"There are no females on Sontar!" answered another from the opposite side.

"Well there is now, potato heads." yelled Ace as she poked her heard out of the blue box. "Hiya!"

"Ace, I asked you to stay in the TARDIS." said the Doctor sending her a mental wave of irritation.

"I am in the TARDIS." She sent back a feeling of indignation.

"Who is this being!" shouted the closest Sontaran. "We would know who you have brought into our council, Doctor!"

The short man sighed, "Oh very well, come on out." Ace tentatively exited her home, stepping into a figurative powder keg. She realized that one sudden move could spell death for herself as well as the Professor. She moved to the Doctor's side, with an expression that was so purely apologetic that the Doctor couldn't stay mad at her.

"Gentlemen, I would like to introduce Ms. Dorothy Gale McShane, formerly of the planets Earth and Svartos, and now a permanent resident of the Time And Relative Dimension in Space."

Ace smiled and slowly waved her hand at the Sontaran council.

"Is she a female specimen of your species, Doctor?" asked a voice from the front of the room.

"No, she is a human female: different species, but apparently similar enough." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"The hair is finer" observed a voice.

"The frame is slighter" said another.

The Sontaran standing closest to them moved to Ace and studied her for a moment before reaching out his hand in order to touch her chest. "The thorax is of a different construction."

"Oi! Lay off, those aren't yours!" She shouted accompanying her outburst with a sold punch to the Sontaran's face. _That's my girl._ Came the Doctor's thought.

It was enough to stop his movements but did not seem to harm the dense soldier.

"Strange reaction." He remarked.

The Doctor protectively maneuvered Ace behind him and stared directly at the Sontaran.

"Not particularly, you see Ms. McShane is my bond-mate, my counterpart so to speak. Any attempt by anyone other than myself to, well, 'handle' her will have profound consequences." The seriousness in the Doctor's voice was quite evident and the Sontaran stepped back a few paces.

"We have heard of such things." said a delegate from the rear of the room.

"You are sexually pair bonded?" asked one from the left.

"Aren't we getting a bit off topic Professor?" Ace hissed in his ear.

"Quite right, my dear," said the Doctor turning his attention to the assembly. "That information is immaterial; the issue here is the invasion of your planet."

* * *

Eight hours later, the Doctor finally received approval from the Grand Council. He would act as a consultant to the Sontaran General Serek, on the front line in exchange for immunity from his status as Imperial Enemy Subclass Alpha. Ace would be allowed to accompany him in exchange for her solemn oath to use her Nitro-9 devices **only** in aid of the Empire.

As the doors of the TARDIS swung closed the pair of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"Talk about a long winded bunch." Observed Ace as the Doctor laid in the coordinates for the battle's front lines. "I'm exhausted."

"Yes, I am sure you are; I am sorry Ace I should have been more aware of your biological needs. Of course, I was not expecting such resistance when it came to accepting aid. Then again, they are a stubborn species and quite prideful."

"Really, Professor, I didn't notice," said Ace as she playfully slapped his shoulder. "And I'm sure that it didn't help that the one trying to persuade them was also their number one enemy."

The Doctor gave her a that-is-so-funny-I-forgot-to-laugh glare before he noticed that she was stifling a yawn. "That does it, young lady, off to bed with you before you collapse."

"No chance, not unless you plan on coming with me, I have a sneaky suspicion that once those doors open and we are at the front lines, you won't have any time to spend with this mere mortal. So, I am not losing one moment with you."

The Doctor had to smile at how perceptive his Ace had become. The TARDIS was perfectly capable (he hoped) of making it to the front on autopilot so he gave no resistance as Ace took him by the hand and led him to their room.

* * *

The communiqué from the Grand Council had prepared General Serek for the arrival of the Police Box, but it had not readied him for the wait.

The blasted thing had materialized in the early morning, but it was now well past noon and still no one had emerged from the time machine.

First the council had insulted him by answering his demand for more troops with the promise of the Doctor, and then the Doctor had insulted him by not showing his face before now.

* * *

"Ace…Truly… I…Must….Darn it woman, Leave Off." The Doctor said with a smile. Ace had blocked his way to the TARDIS doors and was now punctuating each word he uttered with a kiss. Although it was a very pleasurable experience, he knew that the Sontarans wouldn't wait much longer before peppering his ship with "warning shots".

"Why is it that we have to be the ones to save everybody? Can't the universe hold off on its emergencies for a while?" She pouted at him.

"You know why." he answered giving her a quick peck on the tip of her nose.

"Yeah, but that doesn't make me like it. Look, just promise me after this whole Sontaran Civil War is over we will go to a nice quiet planet for a while. You know, take a vacation. Maybe, visit Earth?" Ace said as she slid to the side to allow access to the door.

"I promise. But I am not sure the TARDIS will let us relax for very long. She tends to take us where we need to be instead of where we would like to go." He said with a sigh.

"I know Professor, but I'm sure I can persuade her to cooperate."

The Doctor's mind was assailed with a wash of mischievousness. "No Nitro." He said with a smirk.

"Me, use Nitro on the TARDIS? Never." She gave him a reassuring kiss on the cheek and opened the doors for him to lead the way out.

"So Doctor you finally condescend to emerge. Is the sight of the battle enough to make you hide in fear." accused General Serek.

"On the contrary, General, I merely found something more interesting to occupy my time." said the shorter man as he exited his ship with his companion hot on his heels. "Tell me, have you yet pinpointed the location of your enemy's control signal?"

"No, we have been fighting a glorious battle for the magnificence of the Empire." The General boomed.

"Dear me and here I thought you would be putting the extra time to good use."

"We did." Said Ace in his ear, earning a half smile from her lover.

"Is this the human female, the one, the council informed me, that is your bond-mate." The Sontaran asked with a little too much enthusiasm.

"Oi, potato head, I have a name you know." Ace snapped back.

"Yes, General Serek, I would like to introduce you to Ms. Dorothy McShane." said the Doctor diplomatically. "She will be aiding you in your fight here while I locate the source of this scourge. Tell me is there anything you have noticed in your endeavors, anything strange about your enemy."

"They are an army of one face. All of the opposition carries the visage of my former mentor General Hastek. They move as one with no true strategy. They seem to be content with overwhelming us with their sheer numbers."

"So, where is General Hastek now?" asked Ace.

"Unknown, he was reported missing two weeks ago, when the attacks started."

"Ah", said the Doctor, rubbing his hands together with glee "now we are getting somewhere!"


	3. Chapter 3

They had gotten nowhere. They had been on the planet fighting side by side with the Sontarans for over a month and they had made no leeway. The Doctor was seething; this was far too long to be stagnant in his search for the golem army controller. His mind raced through all the universes possibilities that could hide an enemy as he sat with Ace in the TARDIS kitchen.

"Professor", said his love softly, "don't go brooding, we'll find them." She stood behind his chair and began to run her fingers through his hair in an effort to calm the storm she saw brewing in his demeanor.

"Yes, I know, I know, what bothers me is time, the longer it takes to end this conflict the more extensive the damage to the timeline. Too much time wasted chasing shadows. Too long fighting this infernal war."

"And too long since you've had a haircut." Said Ace as she gently pulled on his brown curls.

"Ah, what? Oh well I suppose." He said begrudgingly.

"Come on Professor, shift back from the table and I'll cut it for you."

The Doctor weighed his chances of surviving said haircut against how much he trusted his partner. His decision took less than a millisecond.

"Oh very well, I suppose I am getting a bit scruffy." He said as he pushed his chair back from the table.

Ace went to where her bomber jacket was hanging on the back of a chair and produced a pair of scissors from one of the pockets. She then grabbed a kitchen towel to act as a makeshift apron. She moved slowly as she draped the towel over the Doctor's shoulders.

The Doctor allowed his eyes to close as she fingered his curls, sousing out her best course of action. The familiar touches relaxed his mood and allowed him to let go of the conflicting thoughts that plagued him. As she began to cut his hair it seemed to him that she was taking away his worries one snip at a time.

Ace gently maneuvered his head to different angles so she could give him an even shearing. When she reached the problem of his sideburns she found she would have to stand in front of him. She nudged his legs apart with her knee. With his eyes still closed but a bemused look on his face, the Doctor complied with her silent instructions.

With her path unemcumbered Ace inched around to stand in front of him. She slowly stratled first one then the other of his legs as she made sure to get his sideburns right. The close proximity to the Professor was wreaking havoc with her concentration. It was difficult thinking about the task at hand when her own movements were leading her thoughts to other occupations. She wondered why he was so addictive and why she felt like a puppy begging for more treats whenever he was close.

Before her urges to accost her Professor could become overwhelming, Ace stepped back and studied her handiwork.

He was almost blissful sitting in the chair with his eyes closed. "Well, how do I look?" He asked, trusting Ace's assessment. After all she would be the one who would have to look at him.

"Just like you did before, except with shorter hair. I don't think there have been any new changes in your…. hey wait, what's this?"

"What?" the Doctor asked, his blue orbs shot open at her concerned tone.

"You have a grey hair, no wait, multiple grey hairs. I never noticed them before." said Ace with wonder.

"I do not! I have not had grey hair since my third incarnation. Or was it my first, it was really hard to tell what color my hair was in my third life: blond, white, grey, it depended on the lighting."

"Well no lighting tricks are going to make these grey hairs change back. I'm sorry love, but you're getting old." Ace had to giggle at the Doctor's expense. Her last comment had to be the understatement of all time.

"I am old! However, it is unusual for one incarnation to age physically while the others did not. Hum", he leaned into his usual thinking position and contemplated his hair like he contemplated all of history. "Ah ha!" he exclaimed in triumph, jumping out of his chair and sending freshly cut strands everywhere.

He turned on his companion with a grinning accusation. "There is only one factor that has changed in this incarnation, but not in the others. It's you! I'm aging because you are aging." He pointed at her face dramatically.

"What?"

"Don't you see? It's the bonding! Two normally incompatible species become joined…. Of course, I should have expected some physiological changes!" He was ecstatic as if he had just unwound the Milky Way itself.

He rushed over to his companion and began to inspect her carefully. Her hair was longer than it had been before. Fine lines were just beginning to etch themselves on her face, lines left by laughter as much as sorrow. Her face had become thinner, slightly more elongated than it was at sixteen. Her body, dear Rassilon, had become tighter and more toned over the years. Her awkward teenage stage had disappeared from her frame leaving an incredibly attractive adult. Unfortunately, all of these changes could be considered normal human aging processes. Try as he might he could not pin point any Gallifreyan-like features on her appearance.

"Hm, well you don't appear to be taking on any external Time Lord physiognomy, however, I would like to do a few scans just to be sure. See if there are any internal changes."

Ace laughed at his intent gaze. "You just want to make sure these changes aren't just happening to you."

"What can I say, my dear, misery loves a companion". He pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly.

She pulled away breathless. "You should be careful with that, Professor. It's already hard enough not to drag you to bed as it is."

In response he picked her up and placed her on the edge of the dining table. "Beds are unnecessary." He stated as he began to tease her nipples through her tight shirt.

**Section of story between following two asterisk lines rated M... Readers desecration appreciated.**

"Ah, Professor I…" was all she could manage before his lips claimed hers once again. Ace's features melted into a mask of pleasure as the Doctor's ministrations worked their magic. Pure lust radiated between them and it felt as if their mental bond was inflamed with an unquenchable inferno.

He took his hands away, but only for a moment as he hurried to rid Ace of her shirt and his own outer jacket. His desperate movements were mirrored as Ace pulled off his pullover and began to unbutton his shirt.

There was a simultaneous sigh from the couple as his cool skin pressed against her flushed flesh. The feel of skin on skin only furthering the fire of their mutual desire.

The Doctor leaned Ace backwards following her until they were lying on the table. He removed her trousers and undergarments in one smooth stroke.

Her hands traced their way down his normally hidden and surprisingly toned torso muscles to find his belt. Within seconds she had him at her mercy as she began to stroke him under his clothes.

"No, Ace, wait." He breathed into her ear causing her to halt mid-stroke.

He shook his pants off, giving himself better freedom of movement. "I want to try something, do you trust me?"

"Always Professor." She said as she leaned up to give him another smoldering kiss.

Breaking for breath, the Doctor positioned himself between her legs. He moved slowly, not wanting to become further aroused, not just yet.

He pressed his half stiff cock into her, savoring each centimeter of her as he slid into place. He felt her muscles contract around him and he relinquished his control.

She gasped then smiled darkly at her Professor as she felt him getting harder inside her. Lacing her legs around his waist she pulled him in closer.

He remained still on top on her. Swept away in sensations he had never felt. The mental bond between them was screaming in ecstasy leaving words irrelevant. He slowly began to move against her.

She arched her back in response. Her concentration was slipping; she couldn't understand what he was doing to her, but all Ace cared about was the sensations flooding her senses. She held him tighter; her fingers dancing through his freshly cut hair sending electric jolts through his skull. Pure love and lust swirling together in a maelstrom collided against them both.

"Oh, Ace, you are so warm" whispered the Doctor. "You…are…magnificent."

"Doctor…oh, god… I… want you…need you… can't hold on much…god. Doctor! Fuck me!" came her shuddering reply. She rocked her hips against him, matching his infuriatingly slow pace.

Unable to hold back any longer¸ the Doctor hammered into her. Her command spurred him on with abandon. With each thrust he felt himself getting closer.

They rode wave after wave of physical and mental pleasure, bringing them to the edge and back again.

"Doctor!" screamed Ace as her orgasm overtook her. Her muscles squeezed him in deeper as she found release causing him to lose control.

He came inside her, not wanting to miss a second of contact.

She hugged him tighter holding him close before letting him move from her. The loss of his cock from inside her spurred a whimper of protest soon quieted by his mouth on hers.

They lay on the table for a while longer, content to be in each other's embrace and to forget the worried of the Civil War still raging outside the TARDIS's doors.

**Minutes Later:**

The squawk of their nearby Sontaran communicator roused them from their drowsy afterglow.

_Doctor, we require your presence. _

The Doctor begrudgingly picked up the device from where it had fallen off the table and growled into it.

"I'm a tad busy at the moment, can't it wait."

_I'm afraid not, Time Lord, you were the one who ordered us to tell you if the scanner picked up anything._

"Ah yes." He placed his hand over the communicator's mouthpiece and whispered to Ace. "They sure have a horrible sense of timing."

"Oh I don't know, love. Five minutes ago would have been much worse." She whispered back.

He turned back to the comm-link. "Excellent General I shall be there presently."

Ace yawned "I suppose its back to the grindstone."

"Yes, but for me not you," Ace looked at him concerned. "Don't worry I'll be back. I am sure this blip on the scanner is just a passing asteroid or something of that nature. Our enemy is too crafty to let us spot them that easily."

"But who's", she stifled another yawn, "sorry, who's going to watch your back? That's my job. I don't….trust…those old… potato…heads." She snuggled into his shoulder and promptly fell asleep.

He lay there a few minutes enjoying the sound of Ace's rhythmic breathing.

Precious moments passed before he gently moved away and quickly redressed. Turning back to his bond mate, he gathered her gently into his arms and headed to their bedroom. He laid her down on the feather mattress and found her favorite set of sleeping clothes. He dressed her in the soft blue flannel pajama set and tucked her into bed. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead before heading out to parlay once again with his temporary allies.

* * *

"Are you prepared Puppeteer? Do you have enough information?" said the Master. It had been a long month preparing for this moment and he wanted to make sure every possible factor had been considered.

"I am ready so long as you are sure the image you gave me is current." said the young man from his wheelchair. His breathing had become so bad that he had taken to wearing an oxygen mask at all times. He pulled the mask down to speak. "Are you absolutely sure this is what you want? As far as I can tell, she's done nothing to you, why did you choose her for our experiment?"

"Yours is not to question my methods but to do my bidding. My reasons are my own and not for you to know." The Master snarled at him, giving him a glimpse of the Master's rapidly elongating canines.

"Right, sorry sir. I only wanted to know you were dedicated to this course of action." The Puppeteer replaced his oxygen mask before a fit of coughing assailed him.

"I have waited six years for this opportunity and I will not fail this time. The Doctor will be at my mercy at last." Maniacal laughter resonated from his chest. "Begin you fool, before our ruse is discovered."

The Puppeteer nodded and removed his gloves.

* * *

The Time Machine recognized her owner and swung the doors open to admit him. He entered silently looking from side to side as if confused by his surroundings. He stood stock still for a few moments before he gave a slight nod of his head and moved down the left most corridor. He came to a stop in front of a non-descript door and pressed some keys on the door control. It slid open admitting him to Ace's darkened room. He moved with studied precision to where she was lying and pulled a syringe from his jacket pocket.

She awoke with a start as the needle touched her arm, pulling away from the pain. "Professor, what?" she saw through drowsy eyes that this person had shaggy hair when she could have sworn she had just cut it for him. Sleep disappeared from her as he came at her once again with the syringe.

"You're not the Doctor! Who are you? Get out!" she yelled as she struggled to hold her assailant at bay.

There was no response. The lookalike forced his hand closer to her, the needle glistening ominously.

Ace released his hands and rolled off the bed barely missing the needle as it plunged into the mattress. She took her chance and dove at him, forcing him to the ground sans syringe. Not waiting to see if he pursued her, she took off for the door.

She just made it to the entrance when a hand on her shoulder spun her around. There was no time to react as his fist slammed into her face bringing with it a bright flash of light and then dark nothingness.

The Doctor clone caught her as she fell forward unconscious. He hefted her over his shoulder and made his way out of the TARDIS.

* * *

The Doctor was quickly becoming annoyed with the Sontarans. They had told him that they had found something on their scanners, but since then whatever it was had disappeared again. It was all the paperwork that was driving him crazy.

"Is this really necessary General, incident reports should be saved for a time when there is actually an incident to report wouldn't you agree?"

"It is required that every discovery or near discovery is documented for posterity." said the General as he crossed his arms. He was beginning to like this Doctor and that was not wise. Some day he may have to eradicate this man.

The Doctor continued signing his alias on page after page, his face becoming darker with each signature.

The nearby scanner suddenly began to beep a warning. The general went to check it out as the Doctor looked up with interest.

"Doctor, we have detected a surge of trans-mat energy in the vicinity of your ship." said Serek as he studied the screen.

The Time Lord's hearts plummeted to his stomach. He sent a mental message to his bond-mate and his brows furrowed in worry when there was no answer.

"Ace is in trouble! I must go to her." He said in a tone that would not be denied. He then left the Sontaran General gaping after him as he took off at a run towards his ship.

His worst fears were confirmed as he burst into Ace's room and saw the evidence of a struggle. The syringe impaled in the bedding drew his attention. He pulled it out gingerly and studied its' contents. He squirted a small amount of the stuff into his palm and gave it a cursory lick.

"Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB," he said to no one as he verbalized his findings, "But it's still unused. They must have knocked you out in some other way." Anger flared at the thought of someone hurting his Ace.

"I'll find you. I swear I'll find you." He said to the ceiling wishing for neither the first or last time that he had not left Ace alone.

* * *

She awoke to the sensation of lying on a hard cold surface. She took stock of her injuries and realized that aside from her aching face there seemed to be no further damage.

She sat up and looked around. She was in a cell with no windows and only one door. The single light above her flickered, threatening to plunge her into darkness at any moment. She could feel a constant vibration under the floor telling her that she was on a ship of some sort.

Ace lifted her fingers to her face feeling where the Doctor's clone had clocked her. Pulling her hand away she could see that it was covered in blood, old and new.

"Well that's going to leave a shiner." She said to herself. She tore off a bit of flannel from her pajama sleeve and pressed it to her cheekbone. She could feel grit inside the cut, left behind by the golem's fist. _That must be what is keeping it from clotting_. She thought to herself.

There was a scraping noise coming from outside the door and Ace moved closer to investigate. She was startled backwards, however, when the door suddenly sprang open admitting a sickly looking man in a wheelchair.

"My apologies, I did not mean to wake you." he said as he rolled into the cell, the door locking shut behind him. "And your face, oh dear, he's not going to be pleased, but you didn't give me much choice did you."

"It was you? You were controlling that thing?"

"Impressive wasn't it. Of course the Master had assured me that the image of the Doctor that he gave me was current. Obviously not current enough."

"The Master. Shit, I thought we had lost him. Last time we saw him it was on the bloody Cheetah planet." Ace said.

"Oh, no Ms. Ace, the Master has been following you and the Doctor for the past six years, biding his time and waiting for an opportunity." Jason pulled his oxygen mask from behind his chair and placed it on his face.

"An opportunity for what?" she asked.

"Are you always this inquisitive? Question after question." He took a long breath from his mask before continuing. "An opportunity to get you away from the Doctor. For some reason the Master is convinced that the Doctor will do anything, fall into any trap, in order to save you."

Ace let her gaze drop, she knew he was right, the Doctor would do anything to get her back and she was more worried about what would happen to him than she was about her own situation.

"And what is your role in all this?" she asked him in a whisper.

"Me. I am here to survive. I lend the Master my unique talent and he will help me get the treatments I need to live. Ha, he even calls me the Puppeteer."

"Because you control the Golems, all of them, you are the one who attacked the Sontaran home world!" She said, realization hitting her at once.

"Oh yes, but you see that was just a ruse to lure you and the Doctor here. I was amazed that it worked so well. All hostilities on the planet surface ceased as soon as you were on board." He smirked.

Ace glared at him, whatever his reasons; this man had been the crowbar that had separated her from her Professor. She swallowed her anger, it was useless to get fired up, she was at their mercy.

"Don't underestimate the Doctor. He is more perceptive than you think." She said.

"Oh I don't doubt his intellect, only his ability to find us. And don't try messaging him through that mental connection you two have. The Master sensed that months ago and has modified your confines to block any telepathy."

He turned his chair towards the door. " I am sorry about your cheek, I will bring you something to dress it with. I know he will want you well before you go in the tank." With that he left her alone in her cell wondering what he meant by 'tank'.

* * *

"I do not care whether the fighting has stopped, I must find Ace." The Doctor insisted when the General told him the good news. The Doctor had stormed into the General's tent with no announcement and a look of pure anger.

"Doctor you must realize that since hostilities have come to an end so has your supposed diplomatic immunity." said the Sergeant a bit too eagerly.

"What are you implying, sir?" the Doctor snapped back.

"Sergeant, the Doctor is under my protection until I have decided that the battle is finished. We have not yet found our enemy; therefore our victory is still out of our reach. Until we have seen this war to its completion, the Doctor will be considered our ally. Is that understood?" the General cut an imposing figure and the lieutenant was intimidated into silence.

"Thank you Serek," said the Time Lord. He took a deep breath, trying to control his emotions. "Now all we need is a way to trace the residual trans-mat energy to its' place of origin. Failing that I will have to try something particularly desperate and I do not fancy the alternative." That would have been to attempt to trace Ace through their mental bond. Not unlike playing Marco Polo while being submerged in pitch.

"We do not have technology advanced enough to trace trans-mat energy, Doctor. I am afraid we cannot be much help to you. However, if it comes to it, you have my full squadron at your disposal. If we must fight another endless army to get Ms. McShane back and find our victory then so be it!" the General affirmed snapping to attention, giving command to the Time Lord.

The Doctor had to smile, it seemed that Ace had managed to make friends with the gruff Sontaran. He hoped that particular talent of hers was still intact.

"Thank you General, your help is most appreciated. For now though we must get to the TARDIS, we can find the equipment we need there, if you would be so kind as to accompany me Serek." He wagged his finger and the General found himself following the alien to his ship.

As the TARDIS doors swung shut behind them the Doctor fell to his knees clutching his head. The Sontaran General moved to help him.

"Doctor, what is wrong?" he asked with concern.

The Doctor's face was contorting in pain but somehow he managed an explanation… of sorts… "My mental connection to Ace has been severed, at least partially; since she was taken my headache has gotten worse. It is as if the connection is on the fritz. I can feel her life force but cannot get anything through to her. If we do not find each other, and soon, well, there was only one recorded incidence of this happening before. In that case both of the bonded partners lost their minds."


	4. Chapter 4

It wasn't a bloody tank; it was a well, a chasm, a black hole. The hatch that the golem had pulled open for her revealed only black behind it, a blackness that seemed to fall forever downwards. The Master and the Puppeteer stood behind her, watching as the cloned guards placed sensors on her scalp and above her heart. The finishing touch was an injection of some green liquid into her arm.

"What's all this then?" she asked her captors. She hoped that she could keep her fear tucked beneath a snarky exterior. Hey, it had worked before.

"We are going to be doing a little experiment, my dear; one where it would be prudent to monitor your brain waves and heart rate. You will also be scanned periodically to make sure you are experiencing no physical harm. As for the cocktail in the syringe, well, we don't need you becoming overexcited and letting the cat out of the bag." said the Master with a slight chuckle.

"Hey, face-ache, I thought physical harm was the goal of most torture chambers." Ace fought the urge to roll her eyes at the diabolical mastermind.

The Master slowly moved in front of her standing within centimeters of the 'tank's' entrance. He grabbed her face and stared into her eyes. Her brain screamed, the sudden migraine attacking her nerves and neurons. Her mind hurt as if her head was impaled by nails, and the hammers were determined to drive them deeper.

The Master broke eye contact and the pain vanished. "Torture need not be physical to serve its' purpose." He moved behind her as he spoke and motioned to the Puppeteer.

The golems wasted no time following their controllers' command. Ace felt something grab her then she was suddenly falling...

Then she wasn't. She was motionless, and it was dark. There was also no sound, or smell for that matter.

Ace reached out her arms and found them inhibited by something that felt like a wall. Attempting to move her legs led to the same discovery. She tried to reach above her head but the walls were so close together that she couldn't get her hands above her.

"Gordon Bennett, It's a flippin' coffin." At least she still had the sound of her own voice. Ace deduced that her senses were still operational, there was just nothing to see, smell, hear, feel, or taste. Even the air was odorless and tasteless.

"So, Its solitary confinement then?!" She shouted upwards hoping her jailers were still listening. "Been there, done that mate!" She smirked. There worse things to be incarcerated with than her own thoughts, right?

As if answering her outburst, a green line of light appeared and traced itself from her feet to the crown of her head. The scan was painless but still managed to leave behind a feeling of foreboding.

The Master's voice fell on her. "We are prepared to begin. Pull the activation lever, Puppeteer."

The silence in Ace's mind was shattered. She was forced to scream out in agony as the unfamiliar mind probed hers. Thoughts she had shut away for years freed themselves and danced in her field of vision. She tried to block the intruder from invading the more personal aspects of her mind, but it was no use. Fighting was like trying to stand upright in a Tsunami's path.

Through the rampaging maelstrom, she caught flashes of her time with the Professor. She grabbed for the comforting images with all of her will.

He was smiling, tapping her nose with his finger. He was gazing into her eyes conversing in their private language, his lips sealing her to him with every kiss. She could feel memories of his touch trace down her spine, the sensation momentarily taking away the pain.

_Enjoying ourselves are we my dear. Too bad, those are not the memories I wish you to see. _ The Master's telepathic voice resonated through her bones.

The images rapidly shifted and Ace's mind was rebranded by the horrors she had hoped to forget. Kane's face melted off his skull. Kurtz, the lecherous Nazi from Colditz, screamed his last as the TARDIS pulled him in half as she watched. Her former friends Jean and Phyllis dissolving in the rain, rapidly decaying to piles of ash. The Master plunging his blade into Karra's chest.

Ace could feel her throat constrict. Her head was pounding so hard that she felt the need to be sick. The images of memories swirled too fast. There was so much to regret. So many had died, some by her own hands. The last image she saw before pure silence engulfed her was the old haunted manor, Gabriel Chase, on fire. The remnants of its roof collapsing in submission to the flames.

The silence brought feelings of intense horror, who was she to have done those things, seen those things take place. It wasn't until she was pulled out of the tank and placed back in her cell that the gravity of her life took hold.

The hallways of the Master's TARDIS echoed with her howls of grief throughout the night.

* * *

The Doctor sat up quickly, banging his head on the underside of the TARDIS consol. He tenderly touched his newly grown goose egg as he hurried to a standing position.

"Finally a hint, a clue, General, I know where they are!" he exclaimed to his friend who was patiently waiting to be of service.

"You finished building the scanner, then?" the Sontaran inquired.

"What, oh no, no, no. I felt her, Ace, Ms. McShane. Just for a moment there was a flash of umm, well, let's say affection and then a crippling horror." He frowned and scratched his head forgetting the bump until he accidentally touched it. "Ouch."

"Is this bond similar to the connection we Sontarans have to our fellow clones? Is it a constant murmur of voices in your brain?" For the life of him General Serek couldn't understand why he seemed to care about what happened to this strange alien and his mate.

The Doctor took a moment to decide how to answer the General. "No, well yes and no, normally we can sense each other's presence, but the communication is not constant. It is much more personal, and intimate, connection than a hive mind."

"Ah, and how do you know that you can pinpoint the location of our enemy?" asked Serek. He was growing tired of this conflict and his fellow clones cried out in his mind for their enemy's head.

"When I felt Ace's… affection, her presence was radiating from a certain point quite close to your smallest moon. Her terror came from the direction of your sun on the other side of the planet. There is only one kind of space craft that I know of that can demonstrate that much agility and speed. Handy, when you do not want to be traced." He ran a hand down his face. The Doctor was not pleased about this line of thought; however he had told the truth, it could only be….

"And what spacecraft would have those capabilities?" Serek urged.

"A type-45 TARDIS, one with a fully functioning chameleon circuit, more specifically, **THE** type-45 TARDIS belonging to the Master."

* * *

She raised her head.

A strange sound squeaks,

an axel that needs grease.

Any little noise had become precious to Ace since her first time in the 'tank'. She had been in a total of twelve times so far and each time the duration of the mental attack increased. The intervals in between 'sessions' also seemed to be getting shorter making it impossible to find sleep. Since her watch was back in the TARDIS she couldn't be sure. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her thoughts together. She unfolded herself from the fetal position and sat up.

No need to look vulnerable, even if you are. The door snicked open.

"What do you want?" asked Ace as the Puppeteer rolled into her cell. He placed a fresh change of clothes on the floor near where she was sitting.

"The Master thought the news would be better coming from me. For some reason he is under the belief that you wouldn't trust anything he told you." There was a sadness about him, as if his shoulders couldn't handle the weight of his guilt.

"Too right, people tend to mistrust you when you use their thoughts as weapons against them." Her words were laced with venom; she rose from her crouching position and moved to stand in front of the Puppeteer's wheelchair.

She was not wholly finished feeling sympathy for pawns. It was the Master's face she wanted to kick in for what he had put her through not this pitiful man. Taking a deep breath, she tried to hold back her emotions. Not an easy task considering they were still flying around inside colliding into combined feelings forming masses that were making her head hurt.

The aftereffects of the tank were taking their toll.

"Lay it on me then", she sighed, "what's crawled up your nose?"

The Puppeteer took a deep breath from his respirator, "I want you to understand, I never signed up for this. I promised to help the Master capture his arch enemy, but I… well, one clone army to destroy another is one thing, torturing innocents on the other hand..." He took a second to breathe before continuing, leaving Ace's question branded on her face.

"You're going to be a mother. I can't be a part of this." He said through a wheeze.

Ace couldn't believe him. It wasn't true; it had to be a ploy of the Master's to play with her emotions. She had enough of trickery, of manipulation, of being dragged from one side to another like a marionette on strings. It was one thing when the Doctor jerked her around, but anyone else?

"You're lying!" she yelled as she yanked his slight frame from his chair and shook him. "I will not be played like this, you tell that Master of yours that he is a vindictive bilge-brain and…"

"Your scan proved it!" He squawked from his constricted windpipe. "The Master said you would want proof. The readouts are in the pouch on the back of the chair." His face was violet as she replaced him in his seat and rummaged around to find this so-called proof.

She found the papers and read them over carefully. Her face drained of color when she read the verdict. She didn't know how to react. She stood frozen reading the results over and over, hoping beyond hope that she had just misread them. _Pregnancy Confirmed First Trimester Week 6_.

"These could be faked, how can I trust this?" she said grasping at threads.

The Puppeteer leaned forward in his chair and rubbed his face in frustration. "The Master's plans have changed, well been amended. Whether or not the Doctor falls for his trap, the Master has decided to… keep you… for study." His thin store of compassion for his fellow man was stretched to bursting by the look on her face. She looked so lost and confused.

"Study?" she said barely registering the word.

"He wants to study the development; he says they are the first Gallifreyan offspring to be conceived in several millennia at least the first within his grasp." His voice hitched and he could feel his eyes begin to brim with tears. It hurt that he did not know how to help her.

Ace had caught something in his previous statement that snapped her out of her haze. She sank to the ground in front of him, her knees suddenly unable to support her. "They, what do you mean they?"

"It's going to be twins." He gave a hollow laugh. "The Master is overjoyed, not one but two specimens, I can't be a part of it, his intentions, he makes Dr. Mengele look like Mother Teresa! He's soulless! I have to stop him." The truth of the man Jason had come to serve was making his skin crawl. It was as if he felt his death breathe down his neck. He had made all of this possible. It was his fault. He was the Puppeteer.

Ace gave a disgusted snort. "Yeah, he is a piece of work. You, though, you're not like him. He's rotten to the core, I have a feeling you're not that bad, if there could only be a way for you to get away from him."

"Nah", he said taking another drag from the mask, "It's too late for me anyway; the Master was my last chance of finding a cure from my illness." A sudden chain of coughs interrupted him. Ace sat up and patted his back to help him get it all out.

"If I stop the Master's plans I die, if I help him and he gives me the cure, I couldn't live with myself." Jason sighed.

"Look", said Ace, "If you help me get out of here and back to the Doctor, then he can help you. Who knows? He may have just the thing to cure you rattling about one cabinet or another." She could see the shadow of hope flitter across his face. "The problem is how I get out of this dump."

Jason shook his head quickly. "I can't believe I forgot!"

"What? Forgot what?" Ace was fired up. Her eyes flashed gold, the effects of her last injection wearing off. If there was any chance of escape she would take it.

"The trap! The plan is to let your mental pattern leak out to the Doctor while you are in the sensory deprivation tank. It's working so far, we have detected your TARDIS on our scanner and he is hot on our tail, but he hasn't been able to pinpoint our location. The Master says he wants to string him along for a while." Jason scooted forward a bit with excitement. "What if I boost the power a bit. Turn it up from a whisper to a scream. Do you think that would help?"

"You'll be painting a bulls-eye on the Master's backside!" She gave him a quick thankful hug. "It's perfect, Hot Wheels, but the Doctor will need my help. I have to get out of this cell, hopefully without getting either you or me killed." She began to pace the length of the room wringing her hands around an imaginary bottle of Nitro-9.

"Heh, I've got you covered there, but I won't be much help with the escape itself. You should probably get changed, your next session starts in five minutes", he said checking his watch. "When my golems bring you back, they will leave your door unlocked."

"I just need one more favor, please Jason." Ace pleaded.

"Anything." Ace walked to him and whispered her plan in his ear. He whispered a reply. They shared a small dark chuckle and she gave him one more hug.

He turned to the door. "Try to focus on the Doctor. The mental attack will be bad this time but you have to stay focused on the Doctor."

"Yeah, Hey Hot Wheels, good luck."

"And you Ms. McShane." He rolled out of her cell. Knowing that this was the last time he would see his new friend he pressed his fingers to his lips and placed a good luck kiss on the doorframe as the door closed behind him.

Ace grabbed the new clothes and quickly changed into them. They consisted of a form fitting set of black denim and a strangely thick short-sleeve shirt that clung to her like a second skin. Her usual pair of army boots fit snugly over the hems of the jeans.

She fingered the material of her new shirt. It had tiny shining fibers interwoven in the cloth hinting at some kind of monitoring system. Ace sighed, while these clothes allowed much better range of motion than her night clothes, she was sure they had some malignant purpose.

She ran a careless hand over her midsection and wondered what it would look like in a couple of months. _Twins, Professor, why am I so scared, will you want them, can we protect children, would they be targets, will I be a good mum, will they be alright?_ She thought, her feelings swirling.

She looked at her discarded pajamas. Those at least had been from the TARDIS, from home. She needed something to help her focus in that damned tank. She ripped off the remaining arm of the PJ shirt and used it to tie her hair back. Feeling a bit more like herself, Ace waited the final seconds for the golems to come and escort her to her next nightmare.

* * *

General Serek kept looking at the clock on the TARDIS wall. Time was running short and the rendezvous was approaching. It was a pity that the Sontaran had grown fond of the short Time Lord. His duty called and he had put off the end of this charade for long enough.

The Doctor was staring wide eyed at the scanner monitor. The mental bond between Ace and himself had been greatly subdued and he suspected it had to do with the master's meddling. Little whispers of her had been fed to him slowly, hitting his mind like a teasing taste of pastry to a starving man. It was never enough leaving him hollow, but he still cherished any crumb of contact.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sudden onslaught of images flashing behind his eyes. He was suddenly caught up in a mental hurricane. The storm whirled in his head causing him to fall to the floor.

General Serek rushed to his aid but found that the Doctor was breathing shallowly. Unable to wake him the Sontaran sat down to monitor the Time Lord through this strange seizure.

* * *

Ace held the scrap of her sleep shirt in her hands winding it tighter and tighter as the Master's attack stretched the limits of her mind. He taunted her with her past and present, but the truly horrifying images were that of her possible future.

She stood alone in a Gallifreyan building as it burned and crashed down around her, the bone chilling command of "Exterminate, Exterminate" reverberated against the marble walls. She tried to run but was frozen in place. The energy weapon blast turned her into a living x-ray.

A flash put her in her old house in Perivale watching through the window as the TARDIS left her forever. Tears burned down her cheeks when the light on the top of the old police box faded into nothingness. She knew he would never return. The weight of her mistakes threatened to crush her. "Professor, Doctor, I'm sorry."

In the tank, her body thrashed as each new image seared itself into her consciousness. The remnants of her sleep shirt began to wear bloody welts across her hands.

The Masters voice taunted her. _Ace, Ace, your future lies laid out before you. He will leave you, when he has had his fill of you. _

"Liar!" she screamed.

_You are his puppet, his pawn; he has used you so many times. What will you do? Hum? Where will you go?_

She saw herself quite a few years older, in the cockpit of a mercenary star fighter. She still wore the scar she received from the Doctor's doppelganger. Her life support system only had 10 minutes of power left. She had no fuel, no engines, and no way to contact Fleet Base. Is that where she's from?

She raised her hand to the crown of her head and was suddenly afraid when she felt a deep sticky depression. Fears were confirmed when she pulled her hand away covered with her blood. She was going to die. "Question is, do I slowly suffocate or blow my head off?" she said into the flight recorder.

There was a choice. There was always a choice. He taught her that, her Doctor. This couldn't be it, could it? Adrift in an ocean of stars. Alone, no one to hear about her death. It wasn't the exit she had planned for herself. Not by a long shot. "Where's a passing time machine when you need one." She regretted so much. She never forgave her mother, she never forgave the Doctor for what he did to Jan, but most of all she never told the Doctor how much she loved him.

Oh she had had the opportunity, but she had been too afraid to let him know. She had lived for five years with her love for him eating away at her insides before she had met Jan. The traveler had been so like the Doctor that she shouldn't have been surprised that she had fallen for him so quickly.

In the end though, Jan had been manipulated into saving the universe by sacrificing himself. The good Doctor's plan since the start. No she wouldn't, couldn't forgive him for that. Nor would she forgive herself for not confessing her feelings. She had loved him, no she still loved him. Despite everything, dear god, she still loved him.

Two minutes of oxygen left. No one to care. Alone.

It's not fair. It's not fair! IT'S NOT FAIR! "Bastards!" The barrel of her blaster felt cold against her skin.

* * *

The Doctor jumped to his feet. The message couldn't be any clearer and he rushed to put the co-ordinates into the TARDIS. 1. Ace was in trouble. 2. It was a deliberate trap. 3. The master is behind it and 4. Well, their chances of survival were slim to nil.

There had been another message buried under the first. A whisper in a mosh pit. A comforting embrace sent to him from the depths of Ace's mind. It told him there was hope. The Master had not broken her mind or spirit. "That's my girl." He said both mentally and out loud.

"I take it that means you have good news, Doctor." Said the General, rising to his feet.

"Indeed, Serek, you might want to hold onto something. I am going to try a very difficult maneuver. I need to land **inside** the Master's TARDIS."

* * *

Ace was dragged from the tank. Her body was so bruised from battling the narrow box that she found it difficult to stand. Her eyes however were burning, her gaze aflame with hatred.

"Take her to her cell. She will soon be needed to entertain our house guest. Prepare for inter-temporal landing." He leaned down to face level with his prisoner. "I shall enjoy watching your pretty face as I end your beloved Doctor once and for all."

She spat in his face earning a fierce backhand that split her lip and made it bleed.

Ace was roughly shoved into her quarters and told to wait. It wasn't long before her cell door opened again.

"I've come to bring you to the Master." said the Puppeteer. He clapped his hands together and two golems began to rise from the ground as the door slammed shut.

* * *

The TARDIS rattled to a stop. As its last wheeze died down its doors opened to let the Doctor and General Serek run into one of the corridors on the Master's type-45. It took less than a minute to locate the control room. They skidded to a halt, however, when they saw the scene that lay out before them.

The Master himself was strolling leisurely down his central staircase leading a Doctor-look-alike-golem who was struggling to keep Ace under control. She was fighting every step of the way taking chunks out of her captor.

"Ah, Doctor, welcome to your darkest hour." The Master said with a flourish.

"Let Ace go, it's me you want, it's always been me!" pleaded the Time Lord with a face that could freeze a blue star.

The Master knew his opponent's cognitive wheels were turning and he only had seconds.

"You are to be congratulated my old friend." He said moving to the struggling girl and placing his hand on her abdomen. "You are to be a father. I must say I am a little jealous, Theta. You have managed to do what Time Lords have only been able to dream about for millennia." The Doctor's shocked expression was priceless. Yes, the Master was enjoying this immensely.

Ace jerked away from his violating touch before shouting. "Not any more, bastard! I lost them, I found out when I got back to my cell. You made me lose my children, but at least now they won't be used in your bloody experiments!" she wrestled one hand from the golems hold and scratched the Master's face leaving behind bloody gouges.

He answered with a backhand. Grabbing her neck he dared the Doctor to come any closer. "You lie!" He barked at her, spit flying.

"Check your scanner again if you don't believe me! My babies are gone." Her eyes began to stream.

The Master complied quickly. The results glared back at him. _No Pregnancy Detected_. So the foolish girl had lost his prizes. He clocked her in the face once more for her arrogance.

"Time to end this charade!" said General Serek as he pulled his weapon and trained it on the Master.

He then turned slowly until he was aiming at the Doctor. "Sontar Ha!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The air was overcome with the sound of marching as a platoon of Sontarans filed into the Control room. Their guns were primed and aimed straight at the Doctor.

"No!" Ace yelled.

"You see Doctor, I have been planning this for quite a while. The Sontaran government was perfectly willing to waste a few thousand clones in order to lead you to a trap. Dear Serek and his Mentor have been aiding me in this endeavor, via mental reprogramming of course."

"You think I didn't know that? I knew. I knew you have been baiting me into a confrontation since the beginning." The Doctor pointed dramatically at his enemy. "A Sontaran who shows concern for those of another species! General Serek was the perfect imitation of a Sontaran imitating a human. Laughable. You should find a better actor next time."

"Laugh all you want Doctor but this time it is I who has you against the wall. Firing Squad Form up!" Instantly twenty Sontarans formed lines facing the Doctor, their guns held in salute.

"But first I want you to experience the death of your future." The Master tightened his hands around Ace's neck. "You could have been the mother of giants, now you are of no use to me and I am not one to leave garbage lying around." She struggled and scratched at him, but he did not loosen his grip until he felt bones crunch under her skin. Her head sagged pleasantly towards his enemy, the sad mockery of a cry for help.

He tossed Ace's limp body aside and motioned to his Sontaran allies. "I shall not let you suffer for long Doctor. I shall miss our little games. Ready!" The Doctor smiled and doffed his hat to the firing squad. "Aim!" The tension was humming as the last word was said. "Fire!"

Clouds of dust kicked up from the turbulence of the phaser fire and as the room cleared the Master's scowl grew deeper on his forehead.

"Where is the Doctor!" he screeched.

General Serek answered him. "I don't know! There was something …a… a black blur that crossed my field of vision just as you said fire, but that doesn't explain this." He said gesturing to the empty place the Time Lord had just stood.

"You fool!" the Master yelled as he snatched away Serek's gun and blew a hole through the Sontaran's head. "It explains everything!" He faced his Puppeteer, the man wheeling up to him from the corridor. "And you were behind it!" The gunshot that followed ended his life but did nothing to erase the smile from Jason's face.


	5. Chapter 5

His hearts had stopped when he heard her neck break and watched her crumble in death. The Doctor's thoughts binged around in his head like a pinball in play until they hit an awkward musing.

Why had she seemed to smile at him before her last moment came? It had been the last expression etched on her face when her head had flopped towards him in non-life.

He knew that smile well, he had received it a few times before, once as he was about to pretend to decapitate her for a Nazi black magic ceremony. That smile said _I trust you completely, Professor, just don't mess this up._

This time though there was something wrong with her smile. Of course! The wrong side of her mouth had inched upwards into that familiar smirk. _Trust __**me**__ this time_. It said.

"Ready" The Doctor doffed his hat to his executioners, he didn't know how, but he knew everything would be alright. That is as long as he was prepared to run.

"Aim" A shift in the shadows was the only warning he got. As the word "Fire" was slipping from the Master's mouth, the Doctor was being swept over the real Ace's shoulder on their way out of the TARDIS' control room.

The executioners were left wondering where the Time Lord had gone. The Master was the first to mobilize dashing down the corridor after the disappearing Doctor and Ace. The shots from his phaser pitted the walls as they ran.

Ten yards or so down the corridors of the Master's time ship, Ace cried out sharply and stumbled causing them both to fall. The Doctor however didn't miss a beat. He tumbled backwards, jumped up, and grabbed Ace by the wrist dragging her behind him. He dared not look back.

"Come on Ace, just a little further!" He yelled as they rounded a corner, bringing their TARDIS into view. Two more phaser blasts took a chunk out of the wall where his head had just been.

Despite his efforts, she was falling behind. The Doctor turned suddenly and scooped Ace into his arms. He ran the last few meters to the TARDIS door with her head tucked under his chin.

He burst into his ship and placed the dazed Ace on the waiting armchair while he attacked the controls. It wasn't until they were safely in the time vortex that he looked down to see a streak of bright blood cover his arm. He sniffed it quickly, human, type O+. He spun to see Ace slumped on the chair, her face the shade of ash.

"Ace!" he yelled in anguish. He rushed to her and took a critical look over her form. She was getting paler by the moment, but her clothes were hiding the source of her bleeding. He mentally reached out to caress her consciousness and was relieved to get a response, however soft. He pried her eyes open and saw that her irises were yellow gold. She blinked and seemed to become somewhat alert.

"I'd rather take the scenic route with you , Professor. Sorry, Doctor, take me with you to see the twelve galaxies. I'm fed up with being a waitress. Someday it will all come right. Who else is going to watch your back?" she whispered confused.

"It's alright Ace, you're safe on the TARDIS. You are home." The Doctor tried to comfort her.

She snapped to sanity when she saw the blood on the Doctor's arm. "Professor, please, save them, save our children." She grasped his collar and stared into his widening eyes with pure terror.

Without another word, he gathered her in his arms and carried her to the infirmary.

Ace slipped into unconsciousness as he placed her on the medical cot. He wasted no time getting her clothes off, wincing as he pealed the trousers away from a nasty phaser wound on her thigh. The edges of the injury had torn apart as they ran causing it to bleed horribly. He allowed himself a sigh of relief when that turned out to be the source of blood loss.

He cauterized the injury and bound it in dressings before draping her in a loose gown. After that he set to the task of correcting her dehydration. It took three units of blood products, two of which were his own blood, for her breathing to normalize and color returned to her face. Thank Rassilon she was a universal receiver.

When he was sure she was no longer in mortal danger of exsanguination. He let himself feed his curiosity and turned on the full body scanner.

He rubbed his face and turned to the results. There they were; two little dots on the scan, his children, nestled safely in their mother's womb. The sound of one large and four tiny hearts beat rapidly in perfect synchronization.

The Doctor couldn't stop himself and the tears ran freely down his face. His family lay on the gurney behind him and he had nearly lost them. He moved back to Ace's bedside and double checked his data. She had lost a lot of blood, so recovery would be slow, but other than that there were only a few smaller abrasions. Her hands would be sore for at least a week. They carried strange wounds that ran across them width wise. There were small bluish fibers embedded in the torn and raw skin. They matched the shade of the bruises that punctuated her frame.

Then there was the new scar she sported encircling most of her left eye socket. The Doctor knew that that scar would remain with her for life. She would be proud of her trophy. He traced it tenderly with his fingertips. His touch woke Ace and she smiled tiredly at him. Then her countenance fell.

"The twins are they…." Ace couldn't say the last bit through the lump in her throat.

He leaned over her and kissed her forehead. "They are alive and well, you will need some recovery time though, you lost a lot of blood. Do you want to see them?"

Ace shook her head. "I need to know something first. I need to know if you want them. I don't want them unless you do. I will not bring children into a place where they will be regretted. I grew up like that and it was horrible."

"Oh, Ace, I do want them, they are a part of me and I can't wait to chase them around the TARDIS, to keep them safe, to watch them grow and learn." He sighed and paused for a moment. Ace waited patiently for him to finish. She knew he was going into Professor mode and she wouldn't miss his lecture for anything.

"I cannot remember my first family. I only remember Susan, my granddaughter supposedly. She found me when I was wandering lost on Gallifrey, after I was loomed, and told me she was my grandchild, but I have no remembrance of her mother or her grandmother. Though, somehow I knew she was telling the truth."

"What didja mean loomed?" said Ace tiredly.

"That's how Gallifreyans are "born". We emerge fully grown from mechanical genetic manipulators we call Looms. Woven, engineered randomly from leftover genetic material. Created into families with a limited number aloud per house, we do not reproduce sexually. Or at least we haven't been able to since the Time of Chaos when the Pythia's Curse came over my people."

He lovingly placed his hand over her stomach and drew circles on her skin with his thumb.

"These two will be the, my, only children that I can or will remember. But the choice to keep them is entirely up to you." His eyes pierced her soul, reiterating the honesty in his thoughts.

"I want them, Professor, I want them so badly. I just couldn't let myself hope that I would get the chance to be a Mum, not and be with you." She swallowed hard, her relief evident on her face.

The Doctor smiled at her and gave her a soft kiss. She took his hands in hers and looked him squarely in the face. "Just promise me something, Professor."

He nodded. "I know it is stupid to assume that we will always be together…"

He moved to stop her, but she patted his hands and continued. "Whether you want to or not, you or I or they will leave, one day. But what I want…no…need you to promise me is that the kids are off limits. No maneuvering them in your mind games. I need you to promise that while they will always be your children, they will never be your pawns."

He put his arms down by his side and bowed his head sighing. "I cannot promise that our twins will never be used as pivotal players in some evil mind game, but I swear I will not put them in that position. I will never use them as I have so often used you." He clenched his jaw shut, hating himself for the pain he had caused over the years.

Ace nudged him and he looked at her again. "I accepted that part of our journey together a long time ago, Doctor. I just can't let the children go through that. Speaking of, I would like to see them now." She smiled at him.

His face lit up in anticipation of her reaction as he switched the scanner back on. He turned the monitor so she could see it from her position on the cot.

Her brow furrowed in confusion, then smoothed into an expression of wonder as she pointed to the screen. "Is that them, Doctor, those tiny dots?"

"Yes, my dear, those are our twins." He moved closer to the monitor and hummed to himself. He tapped his fingers on his chin thoughtfully. "I am not sure I agree with the assessment of tiny, they seem larger now than they were a few minutes ago."

He pulled up the records of his previous scan and compared notes. "They are larger, 0.003% larger." He looked back at Ace and saw that he was worrying her.

He smiled at her, "It seems they have the same impatience as their mother", he rocked back on his heals with his hands behind his back.

Ace calmed immediately. The Doctor's posture was the same one he used when he had a particularly interesting piece of information to share. His aren't-I-so-clever stance.

"Ok I'll bite, Why is that?" she said cocking her head to the side.

"Well it seems our children are very keen on joining the world. They should be born in oh I'd say", he pulled out his fob watch and checked the date, "four months, give or take a day."

"Pull the other one, Professor." Ace sad, pushing herself into a sitting position.

"I am being completely serious." He insisted. "It may be the normal gestation for my species, who knows. I am sure there were books on the subject, but it has been so long since a Gallifreyan has given birth, that I am certain they are all archived in the Matrix by now. "

"You really don't know anything about this, do you?" Ace said her expression one of a deer caught in the headlights.

"I know all there is to know about human pregnancy, but not about Gallifreyan gestation." He brushed her hair behind her ear. "If you would like, I know plenty of very capable intergalactic hospitals that…"

"No", Ace interrupted, "We can't risk discovery. I'll do anything to ensure that they are healthy, but we have too many enemies. I am not even sure we have seen the last of the Master. He wanted the babies so badly. For experiments or something." She shivered at the thought. The Doctor noticed this and covered her with a warm blanket. "Ten'll get you twenty the first place he would look would be the hospitals. "

"I agree, so, we play as we go, should be a great adventure." He kissed her once more before letting her drift off to sleep again.

She was right, he decided, there are too many enemies. He hung his head with shame knowing that it was his doing that put his family in danger.

* * *

The Master was alone once again. He had gotten rid of the Sontarans with little more than a thought and returned to the upheaval that was his TARDIS. He abhorred a mess and set about cleaning up. There was still the problem of what to do with the two bodies: Sontaran and Human that still littered his floor. Such a small problem to occupy his mind when a mystery of greater importance pulled at his thoughts.

He started to douse the bodies in the closest flammable liquid, Butane, as he thought over past events. That wretched girl! Her name was now burned into his mind, Ace, Dorothy Gale McShane. Somehow she had fought off the effects of his viral suppression drug enough to run top speed, cheetah wise, through a firing range of twenty Sontarans to save the Doctor. Damn her, she must have been in mental contact with the replica that he strangled. No, she did not have that capability! That asthmatic shit must have kept her in a mind link while he controlled the replica's actions.

No wonder the Puppeteer had smiled when he had shot him. For once the Master had been the puppet on strings.

He lit a match and dropped it unceremoniously on the two corpses. He'd dump their ashes out the closest airlock later.

The Master moved to his control consol and brought up the readings he took of the replica. It was a testament to the late Jason Yacoub that the replica read as human to such a sophisticated piece of technology. He turned his head and savored the scent of burning flesh.

Then he saw his mistake. What should have hinted to him that the thing he strangled was not the true human? He had sent the Puppeteer to Ace's cell with a specially prepared set of clothes. The metal fibers woven into the fabric served two purposes. They were to have sent him constant readings of the fetal growth of the specimens and protect them from any stray radioactive waves that their mother would have encountered in the sensory deprivation tank.

The scanner would not have been able to penetrate the fiber network to get a reading of Ace's condition. She had been wearing the right looking outfit, but the scanner would have been able to pick up the presence of the fiber network. Damn his temper! If she had not also goaded him into killing her then he might have noticed the discrepancy in time.

Then it would have been the Doctor and his mate that were burning on the floor of his TARDIS.

Oh, He was not finished with those two. The revenge for this humiliation would be sweet.

He started going through other readings, ones from the true Ace's outfit. It took seconds for his suspicions to be confirmed. The bitch still carried her whelps. His mouth watered, "so my prizes are still within reach. My dear Doctor, enjoy the time you have, it is running short."

* * *

"DOCTOR! I need you!" yelled Ace from their room. The wave of emotions that followed her outburst was so jumbled it made the Doctor's eyes cross.

He jumped off the ladder he was using to reach the ceiling and set off at a jog. The mural could wait a little while longer. He was pleased with the results so far and he couldn't wait to show her. His eyebrows jumped up in question when he reached their open door.

Ace was sitting on the foot of the bed, a peculiar expression on her face. "Professor", she said sensing his presence, "what is going on? I feel strange."

He moved over to her and knelt down. She could see that his face was full of concern. "What is it you feel, exactly?"

He placed his hand on her belly. She had the appearance of a woman who was six months into her pregnancy, but in reality it had only been three. The fetal development of the twins was beginning to increase exponentially and that could only lead to a myriad of problems. He smiled warmly when he felt movement answer his touch.

"That! It's like a fluttering, but more than that, well, sometimes it bloody well hurts." Her hand covered his.

"Do you think everything is alright Professor?"

He pulled out his sonic scanner, or was it a screwdriver, and quickly whirred it over Ace. He snapped the device in front of his face and studied the results. "Right as thunder." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Good." Ace let the top half of her body thump back on the bed. She took a moment to relax before talking. "So what am I feeling exactly?"

"Our little cubs are stretching their legs."

"Cubs? You mean parasites don't you?" said Ace as she glared at him.

He chuckled softly, "Well yes in a sense. But all creatures are in their fetal stage. You were a parasite once too." His finger reached up and tweaked her nose.

Her mood shifted to contentment at the familiar gesture. She sat up suddenly as an idea struck her. "Do you think we could go somewhere Professor?"

"Somewhere?" he asked as he helped her up by pulling her into his arms. "Why not anywhere? What strikes your fancy, my girl?" his Scottish lilt accented his enthusiasm.

"Why don't you let me surprise you? I think the TARDIS trusts me enough now to let me set the coordinates." She smiled at him with that familiar smirk. _Trust me._

The Doctor took a moment to think about it. This surprise could very well turn out to be a romantic hillside overlooking Hiroshima. Ace's penchant for explosions sent a shiver through him.

"Tell you what, let me show you what the TARDIS and I have been working on for the last three days and then we can go wherever you wish." He stepped back from her to grab his hat and Brolly from the bedside hat rack.

"Deal." The Professor hooked Ace's arm with his umbrella handle and yanked her into the hallway. He popped his hat over her face when they were about to reach the newly constructed nursery.

"I can still see through this, Professor." Muffled Ace from beneath the cross hatched straw.

"Well close your eyes then!" He retorted as he turned to walk backwards leading her into the babies' room.

He was careful not to trip over anything but he still managed to bump into the ladder he was using before. A paint tray teetered precariously on the top rung, but thankfully did not fall.

"Alright, stand still." The Doctor removed his hat from her face, but she kept her eyes close.

"Can I look now?" She asked when he moved to stand behind her and touched her shoulder.

"Yes, have a look." She opened first one then the other eye and looked around excitedly.

It looked the same as it did three days ago. True it was pretty boss, and a lot bigger than some of the other rooms on the ship. The identical cribs had grown straight from the TARDIS herself in the middle of the far wall. An impressive play area had sprung up in front of them. The kids would play beneath a specially invented 'sun'. That's when Ace recalled the Professor saying something had to be done about the ceiling.

She glanced upwards and let out an involuntary gasp. She stepped back hoping to fill more of her field of vision with the magnificent painting.

If Vincent van Gogh had attempted to paint the expanse of all of time and space his result might have been similar. The great domed ceiling was split into two hemispheres. In the sky to the right hung the Earth, its' blue-white swirling atmosphere glowed above its' familiar continents. She could recognize a few of the constellations hovering near the planet. Orion, Cassiopeia, Leo, the seven sisters, and the twins of Gemini twinkled brightly in the swirling blue-black void.

In the right Hemisphere there loomed a great red planet. The crimsons and oranges of its' clouds were breathtaking in their oppressiveness. The orb radiated power, and the memories of the past. It, too, had its' own crowd of sparkling star patterns.

Ace moved to the Doctor and grabbed his arm "Is that Gallifrey, Professor?" she pointed to the red planet.

"Yes, my point of origin. Remind me to take you sometime. I have a feeling you would keep those stuffy old Time Lords on their toes." He placed his arm across her shoulders.

"Do you like it?" He asked. "Wait, no, don't answer that yet, I haven't quite finished this little effect, but I think you will get the jest."

He pulled out his always handy sonic screwdriver and put out the light. That's when the room truly came to life.

Glow in the dark didn't fully describe what Ace was seeing. The Planets began to rotate at different speeds, their atmospheres twisting and rolling across their surfaces. The light constantly twinkling from the stars cast only the softest glow to the floor below.

Despite the wonder and joy she was feeling, Ace's eyes filled with tears. She turned and embraced her Professor.

"I take it the décor meets with your approval." He chuckled into her hair. She nodded into his chest.

Stepping back from him a few moments later, she cleared her throat and wiped her eyes. "I hope I don't get all choked up every time the kids need a late night snack. Ok, then, my turn."

She took the Professors hand and walked with him to the control room. With one final look at her mate, Ace stepped up and typed in their destination.

The TARDIS hummed in response and the sound made them both smile.

* * *

The Doctor tapped his foot as he waited in front of the TARDIS doors. Ace had asked him to be patient for a little bit while she got ready. This was decidedly unlike Ace. Normally she would be the first one out the door to explore their new destination. Instead she had decided to get 'tarted up' for the occasion.

He brought out his old clothes brush and gave his suit a quick once over. No need to look overtly shabby. What made things worse, was she had not given him any hint about where they had landed. Even when he had tried to search her mind gently for the answer, she had slammed a mental door in his face. _Cheeky Monkey._

Looking up, the Time Lord nearly fell forwards. There in the entrance to the ship's maze of corridors stood Ace. She was wearing an elegant black strapless dress with a white stripe that twisted around its length. It cleverly slimmed her tummy and created a shimmer that could only be the lights' reflection off silk. He swallowed hard and tapped his umbrella against his leg in an effort to distract himself from the heat rising in his hearts.

"Ready Professor?" she asked she slinked over to him.

He offered her his arm, gladly accepted, and proudly paraded her out of the TARDIS.


	6. Chapter 6

The atmosphere fell thick around the TARDIS, the air peppered with the oddly familiar scents of Creole cuisine, muddy river and stale tobacco. The ship's doors opened to deposit the Doctor and Ace under a garish promenade that seemed to be raining stings of beads from above.

"Ah, New Orleans!" exclaimed the Professor. "The Big Easy, Ace have I ever told you this is one of my all time favorite cities." His face was alight with such childlike enthusiasm that she had to smile.

"You have mentioned it in passing, a few thousand times." She reached over and flicked the brim of his hat. "I hope we are not too late, I think there is someone here you would like to see."

"It's not a palm reader is it?" He grumped as they passed a psychic's advertisement.

"Darn, you found me out, my master plan to find out our future is ruined!" she exclaimed melodramatically, while shooting her partner a glance that said: _keep guessing_.

The Doctor pursed his lips as they walked. He loved a mystery and was fully absorbed with trying to figure out who Ace could be taking him to see. Lost in his thoughts he barely noticed they had stopped moving. He looked back at his bond-mate with a curious expression.

They stood outside a higher scale restaurant, a jazz club, one of those dreadfully romantic dinner and dance joints. Its' doors were plastered with concert fliers, one of which displayed the face of someone the Doctor had met before. It also let them know what year they were exploring, 1968.

In a flash, he took the lead, pulling a giggling Ace behind him. Within minutes they were sitting comfortably at a table close to the band stand. They had a while before the show was scheduled to start, so the couple studied their menus. An array of exciting new tastes enticed them from the pages.

A server appeared and lit a small candle on their table before taking their orders. It wasn't long after that the dark-skinned instrumentalists began to file onto the band stand. When the last person climbed onto the stage the Doctor shot out of his chair and dashed up to him.

"Sachmo!" He shouted and Ace was suddenly very thankful they were the only patrons in the restaurant.

"Doctor! What a wonderful surprise!"

"It's a wonderful world."

"You sure right Doctor, you sure right. What brings you to this corner of the universe?"

The Doctor smiled and gestured to Ace who was still sitting at their table with a bemused expression.

"We are taking a break, I'm afraid we have been cooped up on the TARDIS for a while and my partner was getting restless. This happy detour was all her idea."

"Well it's great to see ya. Hey ya'll", said Louis as he turned to his accompanists, "this is the cat I told you about, best spoon player in the universe." Louis said as he turned to wink at the Doctor.

This statement created an enthusiastic firestorm of discussion amongst the band members. A few people spoke above the noise. "Show us what you can do Doc." "Play those bones!" "Give us a song."

Ace noticed that her normally humble Professor was eating up the attention. It was no surprise to her when he reached into one of his endless pockets and pulled out his favorite set of playing spoons.

He absently dusted them off, plucking a piece of pocket lint off one of the handles before he remembered something.

"My friends, I would like to play for you today on the most beautiful musical instrument in the world, Ms. Dorothy McShane." He turned to her and motioned for Ace to join him in front of the stage.

_What is he up to now?_ She wondered as she rose from the table and moved to him. _You'll see_. Came his mental answer wrapped in a cocoon of puckish mischievousness.

When she reached the stage ledge he jumped down to her.

"Put out your hand, palm up." He told her before turning back to the musicians. He motioned to Louis and the larger man leaned down to receive the Doctor's whispered request.

Sachmo twirled back to his band and gave them a hand signal before beginning his rhythmic directing. He put his trumpet to his lips and the first strains of the song 'Hello Dolly' filled the room.

The Doctor tapped his feet in rhythm until the fourth downbeat. That's when the spoons in his hand clacked to life.

He tapped the spoons on Ace's upturned hand, throwing in extra beats whenever the mood tickled him. He moved up her arm to her shoulders giving each part of her a rap in turn. She looked up from his progress down her other arm to realize that the restaurant was no longer empty. She automatically turned over her other hand so that the Doctor could finish his trail of clicks.

The couples that were slowly being ushered to their tables were clearly enjoying the spectacle of the little man with the spoons. And why not? The Doctor was on fire, now playing on his own hands, arms, and head he moved through the building crowd, including each audience member with a quick tap of his spoons.

The Doctor made his way back to Ace and used the spoons to crawl up her body from her knee to her shoulder where he rattled off his last few beats. They had stirred the now full house into a clapping joyful group.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please give a warm round of applause for our warm up act: Dr. Time and his companion Ms. McShane!" rolled Louis voice from the stage microphone.

Ace flushed all over when they were given a standing ovation. The Doctor on the other hand made a great show of doffing his hat and bowing low. He then grabbed Ace's hand and twirled her once before carefully leaning her back into a dip. The applause and clapping sounds swelled before the audience politely quieted so that the couple could return to their table.

* * *

Thus their night began. The music was a balm to their nerves and the Doctor and Ace savored every note. Rassilon only knew when they would get a break again.

The red beans and rice they ordered imbued upon them both the sense of warmth and contentment emblematic of southern comfort food. For the first time since finding out about the twins Ace felt like she would have no problem keeping this meal down.

"Doctor, do you think we could get the recipe for this? I think the twins really like it." She said around a particularly large bite.

"I have the recipe, don't worry I'll be sure to put it on our permanent menu." He tapped her nose with his finger earning him a smile.

The music stopped and the room put down their forks and glasses to turn to the stage. Louis cleared his throat and addressed them all.

"My fine friends we have one more act to introduce you to tonight. Now yall be kind, this is the first time she has been on stage. Please welcome, Ms. Pat Hodges!" he announced in his gravel-frog voice.

The diners applauded as a young black woman with a pleasantly round face stepped onto the stage and moved to the microphone.

"Ladies and Gentlemen". She said in a smoky sultry timbre. "Thank you for the affection you are sharing with me tonight. This song is for all the lovers out there." A trumpet softly began to cry joined by a piano and cymbals. Her voice, when it met the instruments in song was ethereal in its longing.

_I called out your name_

_in a misty dream last night_

_Saw that old smile that I miss_

_It was a beautiful sight_

Before the end of the first stanza, the Doctor had taken Ace's hand and led her to the empty floor in front of the stage. He brought her close and began to sway in time with the music. She followed his lead, but pressed closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

_Your kiss was a flame_

_Not the spark that somehow died_

_And every warm embrace_

_was real as all those tears I've cried_

They were no longer alone on the dance floor. Some of the other couples joined them twirling at their own speeds in a circle orbiting the Doctor and his bond-mate. Each pair lost in their own little world.

_Cuz my poor heart aches_

_each time I awake_

_knowing that you're not here_

Ace tightened her hold on the Professor. Too many horrible memories of their times spent apart in the past surfaced in her mind. She nuzzled closer and tickled his neck with a feather-light kiss. He shivered in response to her thoughts. "I am here now Ace, it's alright."

_But what can I do_

_It's over for you_

_And still my love won't disappear_

The Doctor could feel his shoulder dampen with Ace's silent tears. That distressed him, he wanted her to be happy, and he would do anything to keep her from pain, sickness, injury, or humiliation. Then she looked into his eyes with a radiant smile crossing her face. "We will never leave you, Professor." Now it was his turn to cry. Tears of joy and of sorrow traced themselves down his cheeks. Why did she have to remind him? That simple promise was the only one he knew she could never keep, but he loved her for it anyway.

_I called out your name_

_and in my dream you held me tight_

_Funny how things seem so right_

_IN A DREAM_

As Ms. Hodges repeated the chorus once more, they chuckled while wiping away each others' tears. Once done they gazed into each other's eyes, seeing much more than irises, pupils, and retinas. They saw into each other's minds, into unbridled and random chaotic thoughts of the id and into ordered, structured, calm dreams of the ego.

Ace grabbed her Professor by his collar as the last strains of the song were dying and kissed him fiercely. Fueled by all of her love, devotion, loyalty, strength, and vulnerability, the kiss branded his hearts with her affection. He deepened the kiss, oblivious to the full room around him.

He would have stayed in that place in that very spot kissing Ace forever, if not for a small flutter of movement against his stomach. He smiled and broke the kiss and led his mate back to their table.

Sachmo, still on his break, sidled up to them carrying his trumpet, Lucille. "You are definitely one strange old man, Doctor. Last time I saw you, I distinctly remember you telling me you were a confirmed bachelor. Now I see you with this fine woman, dancing about like Helen and Paris. Damn man the Trojan War could have landed on your head and ya'll wouldn't have even noticed."

"Very perceptive, Louis." Said the Doctor before Ace cut in.

"That's just him normally, Mr. Armstrong, completely oblivious. No acting required." The Doctor was going to retort, but then he saw both of their faces cracking under withheld giggles. They were having a go at him, well darn if he would rise to the occasion.

"Oh go on and laugh," he said to the two pranksters who immediately began to laugh riotously. No amount of his insistence that his mind was preoccupied with the welfare of the universe could get them to stop.

Louis and Ace both had trails of happy tears down their cheeks and the Doctor couldn't help but indulge them a little.

"So I'm a forgetful crazy old man in a box is that it?" he asked as he leaned over to Ace.

"That's it exactly, Doc." Admitted Sachmo.

"Alright I'll concede this argument for one kiss."

Ace leaned towards him but was surprised when the Professor jumped out of his chair, walked around to Louis and planted a huge smooch square on the jazz player's lips.

"Always wanted to kiss a trumpeter, I had heard good things." The Doctor said to Louis face.

The venerable jazz star threw his head back and laughed. Ace joined in with a snort.

"Ms. McShane you will have to keep a good eye on this one. He sure is a troublemaker." Said Sachmo, his pearl white teeth shining.

"Oh, I will, but he'd better behave himself, or…" she suggestively led.

"Or?" said the Doctor. He stood over her chair and leaned down to face her nose to nose.

"Things could get nasty." She said as she mimed swinging an imaginary baseball bat at his torso.

"Oooh, Doctor, you have a wildcat on your hands." The father of jazz said as he mopped his brow with his handkerchief.

The Time Lord chucked, "Don't I know it." He said as they all shared a smile.

After a few more minutes of comfortable conversation, Louis left to begin his next set of songs. The Doctor took Ace's hand and held it on top of the table, gently moving his fingers over and around hers. They looked silent, but in truth they were having the intimate conversation of the mentally bonded.

* * *

"Work you damn thing!" the Master spat at his TARDIS's display. He had been trying to trace the Doctor and Ace for the past few weeks and just where he gets a notification that they have been located the monitor decided to go on the fritz.

Through the lines of static, he could see the Doctor's police box. It seemed very out of place where they had landed it under a gaudy pink balcony.

The Master thumped the monitor with his fist one last time and the readout finally came to him clear as glass. He smiled gleefully his eyes shifting from black to gold to green.

"Time's up Doctor." He said to the air as he typed in the coordinates and sent his ship to New Orleans, circa 1966.

It did not take long before the giant marble column that was his TARDIS's default disguise was parked at a bank less than a block from where the old police box would be parked in two years time.

The Master warily surveyed the area before exiting his ship. A small device beeped steadily as he waved it back and forth. In time the chronotron detector would find them. Microscopic particles of time travel would always cling to his prey like pheromones.

There was only one thing left to do. The Master took a better look at his surroundings. The thing he was looking for wasn't too far away. He smirked to himself as he changed direction and headed for the little storefront boasting Gris Gris charms and genuine shrunken heads.

* * *

The night was thick with scents and sounds that would for now and always hold a special place in the couple's hearts. They made their way along the Roux Canal to the riverfront vantage point that had been recommended by their new musician friends. They found a comfortable if wildly painted bench facing the river and sat down.

"Isn't it beautiful Ace?" asked the diminutive Time Lord.

She nodded in response and leaned into him. He was once again struck with how well her head fit in the space between his shoulder and cheek. _Perfect._

He turned his head slightly and sniffed her hair. Despite sitting in a smoke filled restaurant all night she still smelled faintly of strawberries and rose petals. God he loved that shampoo.

"Professor. Do you remember telling me about fixed points in the timeline?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, vaguely, why do you ask?"

"I was just wishing that this could be one of them." She sighed fully content to watch the glittering paddle boats ferry party goers up and down the river.

"That would be wonderful, but I don't get the feeling that it is. Most of time is changeable; it is only a few key moments that are frozen as fixed certainties."

"I was hoping this could always be a point you could return to. You know, when I'm gone."

The Doctor squeezed her tighter too him, "I'm afraid it doesn't work like that Ace. I can't double back on my own timeline."

Ace sat away from him and surveyed the area, it wasn't until she was half-way through her next sentence that the world suddenly went cold. "Not even if you stand far away, like over the… Doctor, what the hell is that?!" Her pointing finger was quickly withdrawn.

The Doctor turned to look at the hillside behind him. Standing in a long line were about thirty humans (at least they were humanoid) carrying torches that threw a foreboding glow on the twilight ground. At the sight, the Doctor stood and helped Ace up before positioning himself between her and the regimented line.

The mob members were wearing a variety of Mardi gras masks, conveniently hiding their faces. One with a particularly grotesque jaguar mask stepped forward and signaled to the others silently.

As one the crowd ran straight at the Doctor and Ace.

"Ace, can you run?" asked the Doctor quickly.

"Yes, but not very far." She said ripping gashes down the skirt of her dress and kicking off her shoe in readiness.

"Let's hope it's enough, back to the TARDIS, I'll catch you up."

'NO! I can't be separated from you again, I refuse."

"Alright then, with me on the count of three. One…" The crowd was upon them before he could say two.

Writhing bodies tore at them, pulling them apart. Ace clung tightly to her Professor, but it was no use. His hands were unceremoniously pried from her and she was swept up to be carried from the melee. They carried her above their heads, chanting as they went. She couldn't see what was happening to her love no matter how she struggled and contorted in their arms. Their hands stayed locked on her. Soon, seeing that it was useless she stopped fighting and let them carry her corpse like to their hide away.

The Doctor on the other hand was still fighting. The animals pressed in on him, tearing at him however they could. Some were even swinging their torches at him. He avoided their grasps for as long as he could, dancing from one groping hand to another and twisting to avoid the next one. His dance was short lived however when he careened into one particularly large man wearing a goat mask.

The Doctor shot the Goat a sheepish grin. In return he lifted the Doctor off his feet and tossed him hat, brolly, and all into the rushing Mississippi.


	7. Chapter 7

Her pallbearers stopped on the Roux Bourbon and placed her on her feet. The dank shop smelled of burned sage and metal. Ace was hustled through the storefront. Past shrunken heads, glass pipes, an array of herbs and tarot cards to the area behind the tie dye curtain in the back.

The shop's owner stirred from her rocking chair. The Animal masked men pushed Ace in front of the old Voodoo Queen.

Bits of animals and little packets made of leather dangled from the woman's outfit. Her skin was the dark brown of mahogany and was as wrinkled as a prune. As she moved around Ace, studying her, her clothes gave off the scent of patchouli.

"Look, I don't know what is going on here, but I have to get back to the Doctor." She insisted as the Voodoo queen came to a stop in front of her.

"Poor child, you betray who you are with your words. And your countenance marks you as His." She turned to the group of creatures who had brought Ace in. "Thank you my children, you have done well, the great one will be pleased and bestow blessings on your families."

All but the two biggest creatures left before the old woman turned to meet Ace's hateful stare.

"What do you mean HIS? My countenance, you got a problem with my face, bog-breath?" she spat at the witch.

The older woman smiled a great toothless grin at the younger. "The great one, the Master of all! It is not surprising that the lost bride not remember her husband. It was foretold to us that the bride would return to her husband carrying the spawn of the devil. We were told this devil would call himself Doctor and would have the bride under a spell of confusion. She would believe the devil was her husband and would have gladly let him into her bed."

Ace could feel the anger rising in her face, "You dare to call my children devil's spawn?!" She made a lung for the hag but was restrained by the two remaining cult members.

The old woman moved forward and stroked Ace's stomach, "Poor Child! The bride will remember her husband."

"GET OFF ME! I'm no one's bride! I am the Doctor's bond-mate, not the devils, and my babies are half-Gallifreyan, not half demon, AND YOU WILL NOT HARM THEM!" The harder she struggled the harder the guard's grip on her pressed. It was almost painful. She could feel the tell-tale symptoms of her feline-virus activating and she sank into the sensation. Her heart began to jog in her chest and her body flushed with the heat of potential energy.

The old hag pulled Ace's face down to meet her gaze. The time-traveler's yellow ringed irises told her all she needed to know.

"The bride feels the approach of her husband. Restrain her, my children." She said and the two animals dragged an uncooperative Ace to a padded alter. It took little effort for them to force her into a supine position on the religious icon and strap her wrists and ankles to the table.

"Couldn't let a girl go the loo first?" Ace inquired through her rapidly growing fangs with spite.

"Silence! HE comes." said the crone.

As the old queen began to chant and undulate in the throes of religious fervor, Ace noticed a familiar scent. It had the characteristics of a graveyard, the smell of ancient death, of someone who refused to die.

The Master seemed to materialize inside the room smiling, showing off his now permanent canines.

"AH! My young bride has returned to me bearing gifts. Gifts she told me were lost." He came to the alter and glared down at her. "Dorothy, my love, I've missed you." He leaned over her and forced her to kiss him.

She struggled, her whole body writhing on the marble slab. He wouldn't release her, without encouragement.

"OW!" he bellowed as he stood back from her touching his bleeding lip tenderly.

The old hag rushed to his side but he brushed her away. "I will speak to her alone. Leave us!" he yelled at his followers who obligingly scooted out of the shop.

He moved back to her side and stared at her. The Master pulled a handkerchief out of his front breast pocket and brought it to her face.

She jerked her head away, but he grabbed her skull and jerked it back. She could feel the first tinges of whiplash and she was afraid. _Just a little more force and goodbye Ace. _

He reached forward and dabbed her mouth gently. Pulling away Ace was shown the bright red blood that had seconds before been on her lips. His blood, the Master's blood. She began to gag. She could feel her throat constrict, muscles shifting.

The Master saw her start to choke and moved fast. He undid the ties on her left arm and leg then rolled her onto her side seconds before she threw up on his shoes. He sighed. _Oh the lengths we go through for the things we want._

* * *

_If you think the Mississippi River looks nice and muddy from far away, then you should see it up close and personal_, thought the Doctor as he finally managed to make it safely onto shore. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flopping fish. He held it between his hands for a few seconds.

"My my, you are well on your way, aren't you, you marvelous creature. But don't worry, there's no rush you still have about 9 billion years or so to explore the universe. You know, you remind me of this Hath chap I used to know… sigh… oh well, off you go then, back to the business of life." The Doctor sighed and tossed the fish back into the river. He stood sopping wet on the bank and turned out the rest of his pockets. They were invariably full of mud, sand, and rocks.

That done, the Doctor sent out a mental wave to Ace, hoping the response would be quick, meaning she was still in the area. So he waited, looking quite peculiar. A middle aged short man standing covered in mud from the top of his hat to his wing tip shoes on the side of a river holding onto his lapels and leaning on his tiptoes facing the sun with his eyes closed could seem strange to some, but to one very distressed woman from Perivale it was a sign from god. She sent back her love and a warning hoping that they would be able to get out of the Master's trap this time.

A few minutes later, the Doctor smiled, opened his eyes and bean to run along the river, following its winding curve until the Big Easy grew up before him in the twilight horizon. He paused as he reached the city limits. He sent out another mental wave like sonar.

The response should have come back immediately. He slumped into a lotus position on the ground and tried again. He strained his mind listening for Ace's voice.

There it was! Faint, as if coming from behind a wall, or under water, or perhaps even underground. _Where are you, I need you, they need you, come find us, voodoo shop, Roux Bourbon, hurry!_

He jumped to his feet, there had been urgency in Ace's thoughts that he did not like. He began jogging towards the city's most famous street all the while thinking about which voodoo shop it could possibly be.

* * *

If Ace thought she had been sick before, she was sorely mistaken. The cult members had begun to prepare for a ceremony to exercise the evil from their lost bride. _Not much chance there_. She thought as they dabbed yet more chicken blood on her exposed torso.

They told her it was a protection charm, but Ace just felt grossed out. She swallowed back bile as yet another glob of coagulated blood rolled down her stomach.

The Master had explained his plan to her when they had been alone. Ace thought back to that time when the Doctor had told her that Time Lords have an infinite capacity for pretension, well that was certainly the case with the Master.

He explained that the ceremony they were about to perform was a cover for what was actually to transpire. His 'master' plan was to use the residual connection he had to her brain pattern to siphon off her memories. Basically he was going to turn her into an obedient little brood mare. He had even leered at her when he hinted that he wanted his own children… someday. The thought of the Master rutting above her brought another wave of nausea. However it was his plan for her children that made her truly ill. He would wait until they were old enough to exhibit any Gallifreyan tendencies, and then as soon as they did he was going to sacrifice them in order to steal any regeneration energy they had. He wanted them for their possible lives.

She sent one last desperate plea to her love through their mental bond. _Find me, please Professor, before it's too late._

* * *

The Doctor stuck his head around the corner of the building and took a good look at the voodoo store. It was quickly filling with a crowd of cult practitioners all wearing those horrible animal masks. He shuddered to think what they might mean, but they did give him a way to get in.

The Time Lord waited in the shadows until one be-masked person wandered close to his hiding place. In a flash the Doctor was in front of the man. He ripped off his mask and pressed one finger to the middle of the man's forehead. The cultist slumped into a deep sleep.

After moving the man's body to a hidden position, he studied his new mask. The Doctor gave a short laugh when he recognized the animal. He ginned like the devil as he pulled the fox mask over his own face and headed into the crowd entering the shop.

* * *

It was stifling. The sheer number of people that came by the alter to lay their hands on her was causing the temperature of the small back room to soar. They told her they were giving her children blessings even though they were demonic abominations, for they had faith that the great one would find them useful in the future.

Ace was sweating and struggling to breathe against the scents of pagan ritual. Her eyes had settled into a bright gold and the feline in her heart longed for the open air. She panted rapidly, the twins inside her twisted and writhed signaling their own discomfort.

She squeezed her eyes shut as another bunch of cultists filed past her. At the touch of the third hand in the bunch, Ace's fear and anxiety began to subside. Her eyes shot open to see a short cultist in a fox mask.

The familiar blue orbs of her bond-mate twinkled silently at her from behind the fur. They shared a silent conversation before the Doctor was forced to move along to join the waiting audience. He kept his focus on Ace, being sure to find a place to stand where she could see him. This wasn't going to be easy and if he didn't concentrate, it would be the end of everything he loved.

Knowing she was within eyesight gave him courage as he prepared to cast the die. He had a feeling that he had crossed the Rubicon when he had entered this sacrilege of a temple and turning back was the one option he would never take.

* * *

The Master was resplendent having dusted off his old Gallifreyan ceremonial robes. They seemed appropriate for the false magic he was about to perform. He felt a little justified when he entered the alter room and the crowd gasped collectively at the majesty of their god.

He moved through the group of cultist with a fake smile plastered on his face. He truly disliked humans, especially this bunch who had been fighting for his approval for years. He had only been with them for two, but through gentle manipulation of their memory centers, he made it seem like he had always been and will always be. _Omega, eat your heart out._

As he approached the alter he took in the view of his impending triumph. Ms. Dorothy McShane looked like someone had painstakingly peeled off her flesh and left her a mound of exposed muscle. On closer inspection one could see that she was unharmed (thus far) and it was the effect of the painted on animal blood that made her appear so gruesome.

He sneered as he approached her and whispered in her ear before turning to his congregation. "You know if the Doctor's spawn will not give up their lives to me then you and I shall have to make our own little sacrifices." He lay a hand on her stomach as he addressed the crowd.

"My children! That which was lost to me has now been returned!"

"Blessed be the great one." answered the masses.

_Great call and response, _thought Ace to herself.

"My bride may be unwilling, but at the breaking of the dark one's curse she will once again love me as her one and true husband. She will repent her sins and shun her children for they were conceived in deceit. But I shall be merciful; the children shall be my soldiers. Soulless husks, they shall obey only me and will aid me in the destruction of their father the dark one."

"And all will know of your greatness!" responded the crowd.

The Master grabbed a goat's bladder full of who knows what and began to shake droplets of the liquid inside onto Ace. She closed her eyes not just to keep the splashes out of them but also to aid her concentration. Already she could feel the Master begin to work stripping her of her memories.

She snuck a glance towards the audience and saw the little fox-faced cultist slump into a lotus position and grab his head. She redoubled her efforts to keep out the probing consciousness. The caress she sent to her sly Professor were quick and strained, but she hoped it would still reach him.

The years flew from her, her childhood hiding behind couches at the approach of her mother, her awkward teenage years spent blowing things up and chasing boys, Perivale, Svartos, Earth, the time she discovered she had a brother (Liam), the Doctor, and her family all flew away from her. Leaving behind only the power of fang and claw, the virus embedded in her very bones. The last thing to leave her was her sense of self. Ace was gone leaving behind a very wild very dangerous Cheetah.

The Master, ever the showman, turned to his followers and raised his voice to emphasize his lies. "See here before you, my bride returns, she fights to return to her husband!", he grabbed her arm twisting her skin roughly.

She answered with the howl of a wild thing. Her bonds were stretched to the limit, the strands of sinew pulling away from cold steel. One by one they snapped and the animal that used to be Ace rose to her feet.

As one the crowd said "Behold your majesty and might!"

"She is prepared. Once corrupted by the evil one, she is now a black slate. Like a newborn babe, she carried no faults or sins having been purified!"

"The great one is Master of all!"

The glazed eyes of the Cheetah turned on the cultists and she snarled at the loud noises they were making. Her body moved as if it was fluid, muscles twitching in readiness, all she needed was the word. She looked to her Master with expectation.

"I shall take my prize! The bride will soon be my wife and balance shall be restored! Bring forth the joining cloth, let us be married at once!"

"And the Master shall join with his bride and the two shall be made one flesh." Answered the cult.

A long piece of ivory lace was passed through the crowd to the Master but the fox-faced acolyte that grabbed it last was in no mood to hand it over. He carried the lace, holding it tight at both ends. When he stood before the Master and the Cat (well she just wasn't Ace anymore) he tore the fabric in half.

Outraged the Master pulled off the cultists mask hissing when he realized it was his old tormenter once again back, unregenerated, from Hades.

When the Doctor finally spoke his words rolled like glaciers from his mouth, his frigid Scottish brogue becoming more pronounced as his anger grew. Just as the Cat's eyes were glazed and yellow, the Doctor's were surging, waves tossed at sea, omens of the oncoming storm.

"You stand on a precipice, Master. Three choices: pick one. One: you will give me back my bond-mate and our children. Not demons, not abominations, not bastards, Koichi, children, half-Gallifreyan, half-human. Two: You will give them back to me and you will release Ace's body from whatever dark connection you have over it. Three: You will give them back to me, you will sever your link to Ace's body and you will swear on your own hearts that my family will for this moment forwards be off limits. If. .You. I' . .Option."

"Why is that, Theta?" he asked as he took the Cat's arm and held her in front of him. She responded to his touch by snuggling into him, rubbing against him as a show of affection.

Time's Champion fought back his nausea "Because that is the only correct answer."

"I think not, Doctor, what do you think my dear?" He stroked the Cat's head and she responded by leaning into him and purring. "This person wishes to ruin our wedding, how do you like that?" She snarled at the Doctor showing off sharp fangs.

The Master smiled confidently at the Doctor before giving his command. "Fetch." He whispered in the Cheetah's ear.

She attacked, springing at the Doctor. He stood his ground and took it as she tackled him down to the floor. He remained as still as possible as she loomed over him as if deciding how to best go about killing her prey. She lunged for his throat but his hands shot up and grabbed her face before she could take a chunk out of his jugular. They struggled in that position, Ace's face covered by the Doctor's hands as she snarled and snapped at him.

The Doctor bided his time until she closed her mouth, at that second he brought her mouth to his in a bruising kiss.

She tried to tear from him, her struggling forcing him to hold tight to her. Her movements slowly became less urgent. The kiss quickly transforming from forced to wanted, accepted, longed for. Ace stopped struggling and moved to envelop her Professor in a hug, all the while continuing to kiss him.

"No!" screamed the Master. "How is this possible, I erased her? She is nothing, a puppet, my plaything!"

His outburst reminded the lovers where they were and as one they rose from the flood to face their great nemesis.

"The next time you siphon off someone's memories, their sense of self, you may want to check where they are escaping to. It was no small matter to collect the bits of Ace that you threw to the winds and store them safely up here", he said pointing to his head, "Until they could be returned to her."

Ace squeezed the Professor's hand before moving forward to face the Master. She stared at him through narrowed eyes for a few tense moments before she lashed out at him. "You fucking Bastard!"

He raised his hand to the bleeding gouges on his face. His rage at his failure exploded from him in a yowl. "You will not escape me Dorothy McShane! I will have your children and I will end you, Doctor!"

"I think not", said the smaller Time Lord before he placed a pointed finger in the middle of the Master's forehead. The great one could no longer stand as pain raced through his brain like lightning. He collapsed to the floor when the Doctor pulled away the offending digit. The Master lay catatonic on the floor.

"Professor, what's wrong with him?" asked Ace with absolutely no sympathy in her voice.

"Oh, nothing just a laps in memory, he will be fine in a little while, though he will not remember you or our children. Those memories are lost to the ephemera." He turned to look behind him and suddenly remember that they had an audience.

Ace watched as the Doctor pulled a pair of glasses out of his jacket pocket and put them on before glaring intently at the crowd of cultists.

"The evil one has been destroyed. The bride returned to her husband. All is well, go home and live!" amazingly the group turned as one and filed out of the shop heading to their homes where they would wake tomorrow with no memory of the nights events.

Ace smiled slightly at her Professor.

"What?" he asked as the glasses made their way back to his bottomless pocket.

Ace sighed and shook her head at him. "You did always love a captive audience."

He chuckled and tapped her nose. "That I do, my dear, that I do."

With that thought in mind the couple made their way home.

* * *

A few minutes later, patrons of the Café DuMonte looked up from their pastries and chicory laced coffee to find the source of that annoying grinding sound. It soon died away, however, and the patrons, relieved, went back to their coffee.


	8. Chapter 8

For next few months time alternated between flying and molasses crawl. Ace had been confined to bed for the last week of her pregnancy (Doctor's orders of course) and it was doing nothing to improve her mood. Neither did the Professor's habit of scanning and rescanning her ad nauseum.

The Doctor for his part was worried. Ace had a particularly rough time throughout the pregnancy and had grown gaunt. No matter how she had tried she had not been able to eat enough to keep from losing weight.

What worried him even more was the fact that she had not been able to keep anything down for the last few days. They had tried everything, soup, gelatin, saltines, Ace's new favorite, red beans and rice, even pain water. Whatever she tried, however, did not stay.

Ace looked up from their bed as the Doctor entered the room with the usual array of foods and portable scanner.

"Not again, Professor, I don't think I can take another bout with the porcelain god." She said turning green at the sight of the Jello wobbling on the tray.

"Very well no food then", he said placing the tray out of her line of vision," but you at least have to let me check how they are doing." He pulled the scanner out and waved it at her.

"Your son and daughter are fine. Aside from being unusually quiet today. I think this morning was the only day I haven't been woken by these two playing football with my kidneys." She poked her enlarged tummy.

The Doctor wordlessly started the scan and Ace lay back, remaining as still as possible. His forehead crumpled as if he was contemplating the meaning of life.

"Humm, more impatient than I thought." He said before tut- tutting at Ace's stomach.

"What is going on Doctor?" she asked with trepidation.

"Oh, nothing is wrong, put your mind at ease. The twins have moved into position. They should be here by the end of the week. A little sooner than I expected, but they seem to be fully developed. "

"Good. The sooner these two little parasites are out of their comfy water bed, the better. It's killing me to not be able to move around." Her words were terse but she affectionately moved her hands over her stomach as if caressing her unborn children.

The Doctor smiled at her. If being confined to bed would drive anyone crazy, it would be his Ace.

"I know, my dear, but, it cannot be for much longer. I think I will send a quick message to Hugh and Janet, let them know we will be there soon. You should let your brother know as well, he would at least want to know about his new niece and nephew." He said as he stroked her hair.

"Why, Doctor? Why do you want to go to Llanfer Ceirog? I mean I agree about telling Liam, but why Hugh and Janet? " asked Ace as she changed position to face him, the movement took extra effort and she grunted a little as she turned.

"Well," he admitted sheepishly, "While I do know a great deal about human gestation and birth, I have never actually delivered a baby, let alone twins. Janet is a certified midwife now and out of everyone who could help, she would know to keep quiet". The Doctor once again felt that twang of regret in his hearts that he had too many enemies and that endangered Ace.

She rose up on one elbow and considered her options. "Yeah, she did mention going back to school last time we were there. Janet's great, don't get me wrong, I just wish we didn't have to endanger anyone. You know I am still not completely convinced that the Master won't be coming back. I have nightmares, Doctor; every time I try to sleep I see his face leering over me, stripping my mind. I tried so hard to hold on to you, memories of you, dreams…even my memories of the babies. I lost them day by day traveling backwards in time, faster and faster the hours flew away from me. I couldn't remember them; not the wonderful mural you painted in the nursery, not the day we saw them on the monitor, not the day I found out about them. Even the beautiful memories I have of the night we created them, they were all gone. You all disappeared."

She stared ahead at the question marks on his trademark jumper. Her deadpan face hiding the horror she truly felt.

"It's alright, Ace, I'm here, you are here and our children are here and healthy and on schedule."

He suddenly slapped his forehead with his hand in a decidedly Ace-like manner. "Oh, dear Rassilon! He exclaimed rolling his rs. "Ace, do you know what we've done?"

"What?!" she said, suddenly dreading the worst she sat up against the headboard.

"We haven't thought about names!" He said becoming animated and moving around the room.

"I thought we could just name them after you." Ace said with a surprisingly straight face. "You know, we could name the boy Doctor Jr. and the girl Professor II." She couldn't hold it any longer and started her chuckle off with a raspberry.

The Doctor blew one back at her, relieved that she was not being serious.

"I don't know Professor, I just can't think right now." She said closing her eyes in frustration.

"Too worried about something else?" the Doctor inquired recognizing the signs of a preoccupied mind.

She nodded. "What if I can't do it? What if I don't make it through the delivery? What if I turn out to be just like my Mum, abusive? I couldn't live with myself if I hurt our children. Please, Doctor, don't let me hurt our kids." _Here come the waterworks_, Ace thought to herself as the need to cry became overwhelming.

The Doctor settled himself beside her on the bed and collected her sobbing frame to him. He rocked her slowly and ran his fingers through her hair. She pulled her legs as close as they would come to the fetal position and leaned into him on the bed. There was no complaint from the Doctor as he lovingly supported his family's weight.

When her tears were spent Ace fell asleep finally comfortable for once.

Reassured that his love would be safe for a while, the Doctor slowly slid from Ace's side and headed for the control room. He didn't want to wake her with his restless movements so he decided to work on the TARDIS. _There is always something to fix on the TARDIS, come on old girl, tell the Doctor where it hurts._

The relative-time clock chimed away the second hour of early morning on the day that the citizens of Earth would call August 18th when the Doctor, who had been once again tinkering with the TARDIS's chameleon circuit, felt more than heard the frightened unearthly howl from the room he shared with Ace.

He turned to dash to her, but found himself jerked back by the neck. The wires he had pulled from the circuit board had managed to trap him in tangles and knots. As quickly as he could he disengaged himself from the mess and ran down the hall.

She was doubled over in agony, her frightened gaze found his as he approached. She couldn't help but whimper as the next wave hit her.

The Doctor hurried to her side of the bed and knelt down to face her. He felt her forehead and discovered that she was feverish and sweating. His hands trailed over her checking every pulse, every breath, every movement for any sign of danger.

"Doctor, I'm scared." Ace managed to croak as the contraction passed.

"I know, my love, I promise that I will be with you through this but first I have to go and land the TARDIS. I will be right back, I swear." He said as he rose to standing. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and hurried from the room.

Not a second was wasted as he slammed into the consol and entered the coordinates. As if sensing his panic, a hidden emotion he could not dare show Ace, the TARDIS changed direction in the vortex without a hitch and landed moments later beside a farmhouse in a field close to the town of Llanfer Ceirog.

The Doctor opened the door and immediately saw his friends Hugh and Janet coming out of their house. The sound of the TARDIS landing had pulled them outside to investigate.

"Doctor! Welcome as always", said Hugh with a great smile as he approached the time ship. "but where's Ms. McShane?"

"I'm afraid we have no time for that my friend, Janet I need your help. It's started, they are a week early, she is in so much pain, I'm over 900 years old and I've never done this before, not for someone I love, what if something goes wrong?" the couple could see that the Doctor was coming apart at the seams. He shook and babbled on without taking a breath. Hugh nodded to Janet and they moved into action.

Janet hurried off, walking back by the two men within seconds carrying her medical bag. She marched into the TARDIS to help Ace give birth to twin aliens. _All in a day's work I suppose,_ she thought to herself as she located the room that the Doctor had described in his letter.

Hugh meanwhile had watched his wife disappear into the blue police box before draping his arm over the Doctor's shoulders. "Come on ol' mate, I've got just the cure for them shakes." He steered the dazed Time Lord towards the farmhouse.

"No", said the Doctor "I must get back to Ace."

"Don't worry my friend, we will go back to your ship after we've gotten some liquid fortification down you." Hugh assured him. "Come on, Doctor, I'll buy you a pint and we will toast the arrival of your little ones."

The Time Lord smiled despite himself, how could he refuse such hospitality?

Janet tried to prepare herself for whatever alien birth could look like before she pressed the door chime.

"Ace, it's Janet, can I come in?" she nodded to herself, taking the following groan as a yes. She opened the door and entered.

Ace was lying on the covers of the bed dressed in a loose blue nightgown. She was curled up, her arms trying to ease her discomfort by splinting her huge abdomen. It did not seem to be helping.

"Ace, I need to ask you a few questions to figure out where we are in the labor process, ok?" asked Janet. Ace nodded in response.

"Has your water broken yet?" A shake of the head.

"How far apart are the contractions?" A moan followed by one hand, four fingers showing rising upwards.

"Four minutes? A quick nod and a grimace.

Janet placed her hands on Ace's stomach and felt around. She could tell that the twins were shifting about trying to find the right lineup. It was as if they were competing for first born. No wonder their mother was in such pain.

Suddenly Ace's body contorted into an arc. Her mouth opened into a scream, but no sound came out. The horrific scene remained for a full minute before the girl shook once and pulled herself back into a fetal position.

Her breathing was rushed and she panted for air. The room was so hot and it was clear that she was uncomfortable. She made a gesture of writing in the air hoping her friend would understand.

Janet did not disappoint. She pulled a notepad and pen from her medical bag and handed them to Ace.

_Where is the Doctor?_ Wrote Ace in her precise, if slanted, handwriting.

"He's with Hugh, don't worry they will both be here soon. He's as nervous as any first time father and it takes another father to understand how to calm him down." She noticed Ace's concerned gaze.

"He'll be fine, what you need to worry about is you and these two little ones."

Ace nodded and tried to relax, preparing for the next flash of searing pain.

Janet knew the next part of this was going to be hard on her patient and she did not relish this particular nursing task.

"Ace, we need to get you up and moving. I know it sounds strange but the more you walk around right now the less pain you will be in." said Janet with a caring tone.

She was surprised by the force of the young woman's glare, but knew she had to get her up regardless of how many daggers she shot at the midwife.

"Come on Ms. Ace, we've got work to do." There was no way Janet could have missed the eye roll that sentence earned her. However, the young mother forced herself into a sitting position on the side of the bed.

Janet let Ace rest for a few seconds before helping her stand and take shuddering steps about the room. As they moved Ace was pleasantly surprised that the aching in her abdomen did lessen and she was able to breathe easier.

Unfortunately they were across the room from the bed when the next contraction hit Ace, driving her to her knees. The broken scream that escaped her let Janet know that Ace's voice was gone. It would come back of course, but it concerned Janet to have a patient go hoarse this early in the game.

As the tension left Ace, Janet bent down to help her up and get her moving again.

"Drink up Doctor, there's no comfort in leaving it in the glass." said Hugh clapping the shorter man on the back.

The Doctor had not stopped pacing since he came into the house and frankly it was beginning to make Hugh nervous.

The Time Lord halted long enough to drain his beer glass and slam it down on the table as he picked up his pacing again.

Hugh tried again. "Come on, man, sit a spell it's early yet. I have a feeling there is no rush. Ms. McShane will still be there if we take an extra five minutes or so."

The Doctor halted and turned to his friend. "Five minutes? The universe was formed in less time! Infinite possibilities can occur in five minutes!"

Hugh smiled to himself; this is how he must have sounded to his father-in-law when Janet was in labor. It was a relief to be on the calm side this time. "Doctor, Janet will take good care of Ms. McShane, you on the other hand, will work yourself into a state of shock if you keep on like you are. Think man, if you are this nervous, how do you think she feels? She needs you to be strong for her now."

The Doctor nodded and shook off his trepidations. "You are right my friend." He sighed. "This is all so unfamiliar, but I know Ace has never had to go through this before." He shook his head. "Come along Hugh, I want to get back to her."

"Right O Doctor, let's see if we can't give our women a hand." The farmer said as he dumped their tankards into the sink full of suds and followed the small alien back out to his TARDIS.

It wasn't long before Janet had helped Ace find a good rhythm. They would walk around the room or down the hall until it was close to time for another contraction. Checking her watch Janet would carefully guide her patient back to her bed so that when the pain hit she could collapse on something soft.

It was during one of their walks that the men-folk found them.

The Doctor took over from Janet and supported Ace's weight as they continued to walk. Janet, glad for a short break, fell in step beside her husband.

"How is he handling things?" she asked Hugh.

He watched the couple shuffling together in front of them before answering. "He's an absolute basket case, couldn't sit down for a second, not even to drink his beer. I think he is better now though, the tension seemed to leave him when we caught up to you two."

"It's the same with Ace. Perked right up a few seconds before you two rounded the bend. I swear those two have some sort of mind-link. I mean look at them." The Doctor and Ace were walking silently but they kept turning their heads as if they were having a normal conversation. Both wore smiles and the small touches traded between them were seen by their audience as emphasis points in the non-conversation.

A few seconds later the Doctor turned to look at his friends. "I am sorry we are leaving you out of the loop. Since our bonding, we have been able to communicate telepathically; it has been a great advantage." He took a quick look at Ace before continuing.

"She wants to thank you for your help, Janet. We would both like to thank you."

"Oh, Don't thank me yet you two. I have a feeling one or both of you will be cursing my name before this is over."

Ace shook her head adamantly. She looked at her Professor meaningfully.

"Ah, she says she is more likely to be cursing me, since I'm the one who put her in this position in the firs… hey wait a moment. That's not fair! It takes two to tangle!"

"Tango." corrected Hugh.

"Tangle, Tango. Tomato, Toemato." grumbled the Doctor under his breath.

His grip on Ace slipped as he felt her tense beside him. Her knees gave way and he gathered her in his arms as the contraction washed over her. He carried her back to their bedroom, followed by the farmer and his wife.

"They are coming closer together now", said Janet when the pain had passed. "Doctor, Ace, I have to check the babies' progress and see if you are fully dilated."

Ace looked into the Professor's eyes for a few seconds and then nodded.

Janet put on a pair of gloves and went to work. The pelvic exam was quick and precise and Janet was lightning fast with her assessment.

"Ok, everyone is in position and you are about 8 centimeters dilated. If your water does not break soon, though, we may want to consider hurrying the process along."

The Doctor suddenly threw back his head and laughed "She asked why we haven't tried to speed things up already. Sorry, she has always been impetuously impatient."

Ace glared at him, but her eyes betrayed her excitement and comfort in his presence. For all the pain, she was going through; she couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

At dawn on August 20th, Ace took it back. She wished she could have been anywhere but where she was.

Walking was out of the question now as the contractions had been coming every minute, on the minute. It was all she could do to pull herself onto all fours and rock back and forth when the pain hit. It helped but not enough.

She squeaked aloud when the next minute began its' attack. She had to struggle to remember to breathe through the pain, it was hard enough remembering to breathe in the first place.

Ever present, the Doctor halted his incessant pacing and went to her. He knew it wasn't much help but he began to rub her back as she continued to rock .

_Tell me what you are feeling._ He mentally nudged.

_Really, you want to do this now? I'm hurting, I'm frustrated, and this is taking too long, I'm scared. Most of all I am tired._ She answered back with an extra helping of snark. The Doctor smiled indulgently.

_Janet says it shouldn't be too much longer_. He tried to send some hope her way.

_I should bloody well hope not_. She sent back as her face pulled once more into a grimace as another wave hit.

_Get these things out of me! _Ace's mental command was paired with a pitiful croak from her raw throat.

With that the Doctor grabbed his hat and brolly and stormed off to find Janet. He did not want to leave his mate alone, but he couldn't just summon Janet telepathically, _no that would be too easy_, so he had to find her physically.

Janet and Hugh had just finished a pleasant breakfast when they saw the Doctor emerge from the TARDIS and begin a full kilter dash towards their kitchen door.

"Poor man, glad I didn't have to wait more than two days for our little 'uns, is there any hope you can give him sweetheart?" asked Hugh as he began to wash the dishes, no point in letting his wife do them, she would be busy enough soon.

"Unfortunately not, if Ace cannot deliver the twins in the next hour or so then I will have to call Dr. Taylor. You remember him, he was that vet chap we met the last time the Doctor and Ace were here. He helped us out with the unicorns, remember?"

"Oh yeah, nice lad, but really sweetheart, a veterinarian?"

"I know it's not ideal, but he would keep quiet and he could perform a cesarean if necessary."

The couple jumped and grabbed each others' hands as a very pale panting Doctor slammed his way into the kitchen.

"Well good morning old chum." Greeted Hugh.

"No time my friend, Janet, I need your help. I have a feeling time is running out so we'll have to try to coax them along."

"Quite right Doctor, just let me scrub up and I will be right there."

The Doctor doffed his hat to them both and with yet another thank you he spun on the spot and ran back to his family.

Ace could barely open her eyes, it was like they were weighted with anvils. The little bit of the room she could see refused to stay still. It spun first one way then another forcing her to shut her eyes again. _It shouldn't be this hard. Argh it's not fair!_ Clouds swarmed across her mind threatening a storm_. Where was she, how did she get here, where is the Professor, what day was it, where did everyone go?_

She fell to her side unable to support herself any longer on all fours. At least the bed was soft.

The Doctor came into the room struggling to catch his breath. He was relieved that she was facing away from him. He did not want to alarm her with the worry he knew was etched across his face.

He had heard her silent questions and hurriedly tried to answer them. _It's alright Ace you are in the TARDIS in our room safe and sound, you have been here for the past two days in labor, don't worry I'm here, it's Sunday August 20__th__ relatively, everyone went home to sleep last night except for you and me, but Janet is on her way now, I think it's time._

Her entire being screamed out silently as another pain hit. Air escaped from her throat but there was still no sign of her voice returning. Other than the occasional moan or grunt she was silent, at least outwardly.

The Doctor did not know so many swear words existed as the train of thought from Ace pummeled his brain. He was further amazed that her mind was still sharp after all this time. This was in vast contrast to the state of her physicality.

Her body was weakened and wracked with painful spasms, the Doctor knew that any energy reserves she had were exhausted. He doubted that she would be able to push when it was time and he knew that time was close.

She wearily turned to face him giving up halfway through the turn, ending up on her back instead. She looked at him with a tiny smile. _They are coming._

A knock on the door preceded Janet's entrance. All business-as-usual she slid on a pair of sterile gloves and moved to the end of the bed.

"Is it alright if I check on them, Ms. Ace?" the young woman nodded her head and clinched her eyes shut.

Janet needn't have bothered; she could see the first twin's head crowning so she moved her hand gently to help ease the birth.

"Ok, Ace, on the nest contraction I need you to push. One good time should do it. This little one is anxious to meet everyone."

Ace sniffled and looked at the Doctor with a look that betrayed their shared thoughts.

_I can't, Professor, I have no strength left._

_Come on Ace, it has to get easier after the first one, you can do it, I can help._

_How's that?_

_Like this,_ he leaned over and kissed her. As he pulled away a fine trail of glowing golden vapor could be seen joining the couple for a scant moment.

_What was that?_

_Oh, just a pinch of regeneration energy, how do you feel now?_

_I feel like I can do this now, and not a moment too soon, Gordon Bennett! _

Ace's body arched, she held her breath and pushed.

Hugh was marching up the hill past the time ship on the way to his farmhouse when the Doctor's sudden shouting appearance made him slosh the milk in the bucket he was carrying.

"My friend! Hugh! Come meet my daughter! Holy Omega, man I'm a father!" The little man danced to his friend and grabbed his hand before taking off helter-skelter into the TARDIS.

Seconds later they stood outside the bedroom door.

"Wait here." said the new papa with a last squeeze to his friend's hand. Hugh nodded as the Doctor slid quietly back into the birthing room.

Before Hugh could say, good on ya mate, the Doctor was back cradling a tiny bundle to his chest.

"Hugh, I would like to introduce you to my daughter, Sophie." The farmer gently pulled down a bit of the swaddling cloth and took a peek at the little girl.

She was, as expected, perfect. Tiny fingers and toes all accounted for and in place. A bit of black curly fuzz topped her head and her blue diamond eyes eagerly opened trying to take in the entire universe at one go.

"Hello Sophie", said the farmer, "aren't you the little heartbreaker. Bet you already got your old man wrapped around your tiny finger." He grinned brightly at his friend. "Welcome to the best adventure you will ever have Doctor, fatherhood."

Hugh's smile was met with the Doctor's melancholy smirk. "Yes, I have been down this road before but this time I shall remember the journey."

"What's that?"

"Oh nothing, nothing, look Hugh I have to get back in there. Her brother is being stubborn, sorry about the milk, I just had to let you know."

"Sure thing Doctor." said Hugh with an affectionate shake of his head as he headed out of the police box doors. He chuckled lightly and began to whistle as he returned to his farm work.

Little Sophie not only had her father wrapped around her little finger, but her little toes too. She squirmed in his arms but made no sound as if she knew she belonged there. As he carried her back to her mother, he chirped at her and smelled her head, yes, this time he would remember every second.

Janet had snapped at the Doctor as he had re-entered the birthing room. "Do you think you can stop showing off your daughter for a few seconds so you can cut your son's umbilical cord?!"

Feeling thoroughly cowed, the Time Lord returned to Ace's side and handed Sophie to her mother. Pride soared through his hearts when his little son took a large breath and screamed bloody murder. Carefully the cord was cut and the little boy was cleaned off and handed to his father.

"Well, Ace, it's your turn. I named Sophie, what is our young man's name to be?" he asked as he placed their son beside his sister on their mother's chest.

Ace held her children, touching them, smelling them, wrapping and un-wrapping them to check and recheck that they were whole and healthy.

She sighed contentedly, the last twangs of labor pans quickly vanishing into distant memory.

"Sylvester" she whispered the first word she had spoken in two days to her son's head. He stretched his tiny arms and moved closer to her.

The Doctor watched the exchange with pure joy. "Sylvester it is then."

Janet wasted no time getting Ace cleaned up and all the excess thrown away before quietly leaving the new family to get to know each other.


	9. Chapter 9

As she stepped outside the time ship, the mature midwife took a deep breath of fresh air. She doubted she would ever have to go through another delivery quite like that again. Did Ace know how close they were to calling in Dr. Taylor?

She smiled to herself, those twins sure knew when to get on with it. Janet entered her house and washed her hands, now for the next step. She pulled out her best cooking pots and pans and got to work. The new Mummy and babies would be hungry and she wanted to make sure everyone got off to a good start.

A knock at the front door roused her from her task and brought her to the formal entry way. The door opened to reveal a young man who looked vaguely familiar even though Janet was quite sure she had never met him before.

"Hello, can I help you?" she asked kindly, sensing that the man meant no harm.

"Umm, yes, I was looking for the residence of Hugh and Janet; sorry my sister didn't give a last name."

"But then you'll be Liam!" Janet jumped in and gave the startled young man a hug. "Come in come in warm yourself up and then I'll take you to meet your new niece and nephew".

Liam McShane sheepishly fell in step behind the older woman and sat in the chair she had indicated at the kitchen table.

Janet went back to her gourmet creations but not before noticing how nervous her new visitor looked. Taking pity on the young man, she decided to keep him talking.

"So how much notice did those two give you?"

"Huh, oh, I received a letter, what was it, about three weeks ago, letting me know that Dorothy was expecting and then an urgent letter, red envelope and everything, day before yesterday, that told me to come here, complete with plane ticket and bus fare. So I packed an overnight and hoofed it. I've only met Dorothy once before, but I would do anything for her."

"Only met her once?"

"Yeah Mum and Dad separated us before we could remember each other, but when Dad finally told me about Dorothy six years ago I set out to find her. It took four years of searching and in the end it was a complete accident that I found her at all. See, we met at this wicked club called the Rapture. Turns out the DJ's there were completely naff, but the Doctor sorted things out. When it was all over, Dorothy decided to continue to travel with the Doctor instead of coming home with me. I guess now I understand why." He smiled and the effect was staggering.

Janet could see the family resemblance immediately. It was also very apparent that Liam loved his sister and felt a little disappointed that his sister had left him to travel the cosmos.

"I am glad she is happy, though. I mean she is ok right, did everything go well?"

She shrugged, "Considering it was the first Human/Gallifreyan birth that I have ever witnessed, let alone assisted with… well… it may have gone perfectly, I really have no way of knowing. In other words, the professional side of me sees a prolonged labor that has ended with both twins and mother in stable condition are all resting comfortably. However, the side of me that is a mother, as a woman, heck as a human being, I do not understand how she lived through that."

Liam leaned forward until his head rested on his arms which lay crossed on the table. The grey haired midwife chuckled to herself, it was the same position Ace had sat in when she and the Doctor had visited last time. The two siblings were incredibly similar despite being separated all their lives.

"I just can't wrap my head around it. I'm an uncle! Mind you I never would have though it possible, Dorothy, a Mum, Gordon Bennett!"

"Speaking of whom, would you like to go see them now? First course is ready, you can help me take them breakfast." Said Janet kindly.

"You bet!"

Liam proved to be a big help, insisting that he carry everything because she had already done enough work. The soup tureen and bowls jostled a bit as Liam tried to find a better grip on the hot meal. _Bless him. _Though Janet suspected he was beginning to regret this decision to be pack mule as they trekked across the field.

The TARDIS opened her doors as they approached sensing that they were no threat. In fact it seemed like the TARDIS was announcing her own new arrivals with some amount of celebration. Even her interior was lit a bit brighter than usual and the visitors could have sworn they heard soft lullabies coming from every next room.

The door to the time travelers' bedroom opened before they could knock and the visitors were shocked and slightly embarrassed to interrupt a spectacularly passionate kiss between the new parents as they sat on the bed side by side.

Ace's eyes fluttered open in bliss and she saw them at the door. She broke away from her personal heaven to enthusiastically gesture for her brother to come closer.

"Liam!" She whispered excitedly when he bent over to give her a hug. "Sorry, lost my voice, good thing too or they would have been able to hear me next century. But it is so good to see you little brother!" Her hug tightened before she released him to stand up. His gaze inevitably gravitated to the two cooing bundles in their father's lap.

"Liam McShane", said the Doctor with a huge smile, "let me introduce you to Sophie and Sylvester McShane, your new niece and nephew." He indicated which twin was which with a flare of his hand.

Ace patted the bed next to her and Liam had a seat.

"Want to hold them, Uncle Liam?" she asked him with a tired bemused smile.

"Yeah, but one at a time at first ok, I don't want to accidentally drop them."

The Doctor handed Sylvester to his Mum and stood to walk around the bed all the while murmuring to his daughter.

He gingerly placed her in Liam's arms after making sure that the positioning of all appendages was optimal. He was after all a nervous 'first time' father. That fact was no comfort for the first time uncle who was anxious about Sophie already.

While the two men dealt with their trepidations, Janet surreptitiously took the Doctor's vacated seat so that she could give Ace a bowl of broth.

"I know you would probably prefer more hearty fare, but since you haven't eaten in two days I wanted to start you off with something mild."

The new mother chuckled before hoarsely answering. "Thanks Janet, you don't know the half of it. It's been..hold on I forget, Professor, when is the last time we ate?"

Now at ease about the positioning of his daughter, the Doctor, looked over at her as she blew on a spoonful of broth. He pulled out his fob watch and double checked the time. "I do believe that the last thing you were able to eat and keep down was that box of saltines and that was on the 10th."

"Sounds about right", agreed Ace.

Liam was shell shocked, "Good Lord Dorothy, no food for over a week and then two days in labor. What are you some sort of Energizer Bunny?"

"No I wouldn't have been able to make it if not for the Doctor." she said matter-of-factly. "He gave me some of his, ah, regeneration energy so I would be able to make it through. Bit stupid though", here she narrowed her eyes a little in jest as she glared at her mate, " what if we are attacked, you are injured and now you don't have enough energy to heal yourself, or worse, what if you can't regenerate!"

He sniggered and leaned over to give her a reassuring peck on her forehead. " 'fraid you can't get rid of me that easily, my dear." He straightened and took in the room. He imagined it would be easy to have a double heart attack from all of the ecstatic pride he felt. It was almost overpowering.

The visitors remained in the TARDIS until well past twilight. The visit somehow turned into a party complete with streamers and poppers and cake for the well wishers.

As the doors opened to let the visitors once more into the open air they were surprised to find themselves surrounded. A semi-circle of glittering silver giants on hooves stared silently back at them. The white tips of their horns sparkled like stars.

Janet and Hugh smiled at the herd, but Liam was scared stiff. As the largest mare of the bunch moved towards the humans, Liam decided he'd better warn the Doctor and dashed back into the relative safety of the time ship.

Meanwhile, the middle aged couple began an intricate dance of bows and curtsies. They would never have considered insulting the magnificent unicorns that lived on their land by forgetting to show proper respect. Their greeting was accepted by the herd's grand-mare and the entire semi-circle of creatures rose on their back hooves in their own gesture of humility. To the lay person the display would seem anything but humble, but such was the language of the Unicorns.

As the displays ended, the TARDIS doors opened and Liam exited gesturing excitedly to the couple behind him.

Ace exited first leaning heavily on the Doctor's umbrella, which was an excellent substitute for a cane, her face breaking into a brilliant smile at the sight of the grand-mare.

"BATS!" she cried as she hurriedly limped to the equine creature and buried her face in the silver mane of her friend. The Doctor came from the time machine behind her cradling an infant in each arm.

_It is good to see you my dear friend. I have brought my family to meet yours. _

_Oh, wow! Are they all your family?_

_Yes, _thoughtthe unicorn with no small amount of pride_ I built this herd from the ground up. The handsome male behind me is my stallion and the others are our foals, they range in age, my youngest there on the end, he is a yearling now and already giving his father trouble. _

The colt in question tossed his head in disagreement, but it did nothing to change his dam's mind.

_His name is Rush, after my mother, the filly next to him I named Dorothy after you, though she prefers Dotty._

Ace blushed, _It's an honor to know that you named your daughter after me._

_If you and your mate, the Doctor, would permit we would like to bestow one other honor on your family._

_It's enough to see you Bats, and your beautiful herd, you don't have to give us anything, we did not bring anything for you._

_Ace, you and your Doctor brought us out of a dying world and found us these wonderful forests and pastures to roam where we will not be hunted down for being what we are. Janet and Hugh have watched over us all since your departure four years ago, but it is to you that we owe our salvation._

Bats placed her head on Ace's shoulder, taking great care not to accidently hurt the fragile human with her forehead spike. Ace wrapped her arms around the creature's neck and gave her a hug. After a quick exchange between the time travelers, Ace told Bats they would be honored to receive the herd's gift.

The mare called her two youngest offspring and Rush and Dotty trotted up to their mother. With a flourish both foals bent the front half of their bodies low, it was the best impression of a human bow that Ace had ever seen.

_My friend may we see your foals._

Ace nodded and she and the Doctor each holding one of the twins, brought them to meet the unicorns.

The beautiful creatures sniffed the babies and nudged them with their velvet muzzles. Rush and Dotty looked to their mother. The humans could have sworn that Bats nodded to her children right before they touched their horns gently to the infants' foreheads.

Bright lights illuminated at the touch and Ace remembered the magical day when Bats had knighted her like that. It had allowed them to converse, a trait that would never leave them. Each unicorn had the ability to bond with one human, creating a fast friendship and loyalty between the different species and it was truly a great honor to have two foals willingly bond with the twins.

'_Tis done. Dotty has chosen your colt-child and Rush has bonded with your little filly. When they are ready, please bring them back and my children will teach them the joy of riding with the herd._

Ace shared this with the Doctor who smiled indulgently before turning back to playing with his now very awake very fussy son.

_Of course we will come back! We don't know when, there is no way to know really, the TARDIS is a bit unreliable, but there is no reason to say goodbye now. We should be here for a week or two, come back and see us._

_We shall come back, and you shall run with me again._

Ace's smile disappeared. She shifted the squirming Sophie to her other shoulder before answering her friend with regret.

_It may be a while before I am able to go on a run again, Bats, I'm sorry. You should have heard the Professor when I insisted we walk outside. I will admit, just standing is difficult, and I will need time to recover from the past few days, but I had to come out as soon as I knew you were here. _

_Then we shall rest together and you shall have to tell me stories of your adventures since we last met._

_Deal_

_Goodnight, my friend Ace, I shall visit again tomorrow at dusk. Dotty and Rush will wish to visit their new humans as well._

No more words were needed between the two best friends as Ace gave the Unicorn a one-armed embrace before the herd moved on for the night.

The Humans and Gallifreyans took this as a good idea and all retired to their respective havens after warm wishes for sweet dreams had been exchanged.

The Doctor could not bear the thought of being separated from the twins for a moment, so he settled them down on the bed between himself and Ace.

First one put down, Sylvester stretched his little body and started to fuss. He calmed down immediately when his sister was placed beside him. Sophie, ever quiet, wiggled in her wrappings until she had inched closer to her brother.

Ace gladly slipped into bed beside them and curled around them protectively. The Doctor watched his family drowsily, quickly deciding that tonight he would sleep. He undressed and got under the covers on the side of the bed that Ace always reserved for him.

Deciding his mate had the right idea, he mirrored her position. For the millionth time that day he marveled at how beautiful they all were, his two perfect twins and the Ace of his hearts.

"Ace?" he asked quietly. Her eyes drifted open to look at him.

"What is it Professor? And why so vocal?"

"Well, I would like to know something and I wanted to hear your voice give me the answer."

"OK." She said with a content sigh.

"Will you marry me, Ace?" he asked almost sincerely.

"Oh, no, no, no chance! We have been here before remember, Professor? I seem to recall a certain Time Lord who backed out of marrying me once, at the altar no less! Do you know how hard that was for me, yes I know we had a whole planetary system to save and you thought the wedding/peace ceremony would cause an outright war, but it was still hard. Hex did not make matters any easier, jumping in-line to marry me next. My 'Dark Husband', poor Hex, I nearly killed him."

"Yes, well, he did try to kill you too." He insisted. Ace raised a finger to his lips to gently sush him.

"Professor, I love you and I love you so well that I know marriage would be a mistake. Despite what I will want, I…I already will be leaving you someday; please don't make me leave you a widower."

The Doctor gently reached over the twins to brush an errant strand of hair off her face. Her rejection of his proposal did not bother him in the slightest. He did not need a piece of Earth paper to know that she belonged to him just as he belonged to her; they were bond-mates.

He stayed there brushing her hair with his fingers until she fell asleep and he knew he was not far behind her. His attention was drawn towards the twins. Little Sylvester was looking straight at him, a blank slate ready to be filled. The Time Lord knew that behind those eagerly absorbing eyes, millions of connections were being made, neurons and axons connecting to form understanding. The father traced his son's tiny face with one finger marveling at how soft the boy was. The movement was comforting and Sylvester's eyelids narrowed then slid shut.

Throughout the day, everyone had told him that his son looked like him, but the Doctor couldn't see it. He thought Sylv looked more like his mother with his strong chin, straight nose, and plump little mouth. The fuzz that topped his tiny head was a light brown, almost but not quite blond, whereas his sister's hair was a dark brown with hints of auburn.

Transferring his attention to his daughter (who was also watching him intently), the Doctor gently touched her head. The curls that his hand caressed were softer than silk.

She was smaller than her brother, and other than her hair and the fact that her nose was a bit more of a button, she too resembled her mother. The constant movement of his hand on her head caused Sophie to drift to sleep quickly.

For once all was right and the Doctor could finally rest. Perhaps this time he could let go of the Universes' marionette strings and let someone else direct the show... for now.

The End

Or is it? To Be Continued in the upcoming story _The Scissors of Fate_


End file.
